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La Ferme radieuse and the Village coopératif
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the farming class was in dire straits. There was a revival in the towns, but the countryside remained on the sidelines of any architectural progress... During a trade union meeting in Paris, Norbert Bézard met and questioned Le Corbusier about the condition of the peasantry. It is your duty to set up the Radiant Farm, the right and necessary counterpart to the Radiant City.he wrote. The countryside needs to change. They need to be redeveloped.
Le Corbusier, whose thinking was based on social issues, was sensitive to the subject. The two men began working together, and their collaboration continued through the CIAM (Congrès internationaux d'architecture moderne) and, a little later, the ASCORAL (Assemblée de Constructeurs pour une Rénovation architecturale). Agrarian reorganisation was studied in detail. Norbert Bézard drew up the first functional models of the farm. Piacé was chosen as the model village for the studies. It was here that the first buildings were to be constructed.
In 1934, the work led to the definition of the Ferme radieuse, and a few years later, the Village coopératif. The projects reflect Le Corbusier's choices of purism and movement: simplicity of form, organisation, rigour... Le Corbusier writes to his friend:
" Now we have to build such a farm, to see it standing in the fields at dawn, at midday, at dusk, in spring, in summer, in autumn, in winter. And also Norbert Bézard, we need to build the cooperative village, clean and cheerful, the centre of rural life. The countryside will wake up. "
Forward-looking, the projects will never be realised and none of them will ever see the light of day.
Today, an exhibition created by the Piacé le radieux association retraces the different stages of the project through texts, plans, models, correspondence, etc. The exhibition was created in 2009. Each year it is enhanced by contributions from artists (France Fiction, Christophe Terlinden, David Liaudet, Christian Ragot) and accompanied by a brochure.
Following the controversy in 2015 over Le Corbusier's allegedly fascist past*, the Piacé le radieux association would like to make a few clarifications. Under no circumstances does the exhibition wish to hide or conceal anything about Le Corbusier or Norbert Bézard. On the contrary, it is with total transparency that we are bringing to the public's attention the theoretical writings and archives of the two men, and we refer to the most exhaustive bibliography possible on the subject.
* In 2015, three books were published asking whether Le Corbusier's ideas and drawings from the 1930s should be described as "fascist", particularly when he was involved in the following publications Plans and Prelude presented in this exhibition.
Model of the farmer's dwelling at La Ferme radieuse
Nicolas Hérisson, 2009 © Piacé le radieux
The farmer's dwelling
"The most important thing, the most important question, is that the farmer's dwelling will be the equivalent of the city dwelling: convenience, comfort, hygiene. Nature will provide the rest: poetry.
Norbert Bézard
3D animation, The farmers' dwelling at the Radiant Farm, Reynald Gesbert, 2009 © Piacé le radieux
The Radiant Farm
"This is the farmhouse itself. The men have come down from the dwelling and are at the gate of the farmyard. They have entered the courtyard, which has a concrete floor, drained and completely protected from damp and stagnant water. There's never any dirt, water or manure here.
Le Corbusier
The cooperative village
"The Co-operative Centre...(the Radiant Village, as we peasants have christened it), is not an economic and social fantasy, or a doctrinal one. It represents an architectural order (from the point of view of rural town planning); an integral economic order (its principle being the joint efforts of all with a view to satisfying the legitimate needs of the community and of individuals)."
Norbert Bézard
LA FERME RADIEUSE AND THE COOPERATIVE CENTRE (UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT)
LE CORBUSIER AND NORBERT BÉZARD
Éditions Piacé le radieux, Bézard - Le Corbusier, 2015
84 pages (24 p. ill. in colour and b&w)
12 x 18.5 cm
Published by Piacé le radieux, Bézard - Le Corbusier, with the support of La Fondation Le Corbusier
Distribution: Les Presses du réel
ISBN: 978-2-9551740-0-5
EAN: 9782955174005
Published March 2015
EXHIBITION BOOKLET
PIACÉ LE RADIEUX, BÉZARD-LE CORBUSIER: LA FERME RADIEUSE AND THE COOPERATIVE VILLAGE
Architectural project for the village of Piacé, Sarthe
45-page illustrated brochure, black & white, 21 x 29.7 cm.
