11th EAEA Envisioning Architecture: Design, Evaluation, Communication Conference in 2013

Track 3 | Conceptual Representation | Exploring the layout of the built environment

Le Corbusier, Marcel Griaule, and the Modern Movement:
exploring the habitat from the airplane

ABSTRACT

After World War I, aerial photography appeared as an extension of the traditional “view from above”, established from the balloon flights over Paris by photographer Nadar in 1858. From the outset aerial photography served as a way of describing the “real” but only after World War II did it become a privileged instrument for planners and architects.
Using a historical and multidisciplinary approach this paper outlines the focal steps that led to the institutionalization of aerial photography as a tool for urbanism and architecture today. After a brief history on the birth of aerial photography, the paper defines Le Corbusier’s penchant for airplanes and the bird's-eye view, and aerial pictures delineating the African habitat exhibited by the French anthropologist Marcel Griaule in the Musée de l’Homme. The paper continues with an examination of the promotion of the aerial view as a tool for planning made by social geographer Chombart de Lauwe, and the institutionalization of the view from above as a central tool for research on habitat amongst the Modern Movement.
The paper shows how over the years the aerial viewpoint, which is extremely far from the ground, has increased the natural “distance” of the photographic medium, while simultaneously enlarging the assumed objectivity of photography and thus the inherent representation and manipulability of habitat. This research aims to shed light on the contribution aerial photography has had in the construction of the modern design visual culture. It also hope to highlight how aerial view has imprinted our contemporary view.

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AUTHOR

Elisa Dainese

IUAV, Venezia, Italy

Elisa Dainese is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, 'History of Art' Department. Her research, granted by a Marie Curie International fellowship, explores the influence of the architecture of Africa on the development of modern architecture in Europe and America during the '50s. Since 2013 she is a member of the College Art Association of New York and a Faculty member of IUAV in Venice, 'City, sustainability and technology' Research Area and 'Culture del Progetto' Department. She participated in numerous conferences and she was an organizing team member of the Biennale of Venice in 2010 and of the Triennale of Milan in 2013. In 2012 she obtained a Ph.D. in Architectural Composition from the IUAV University of Venice.

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