Only in Zurich by Duncan J.D. Smith

District 8 Weber’s friendship with Le Corbusier lasted for seven years during which time she visited him in Paris every couple of weeks. She staged regular exhibitions of hiswork in her galleryMezzanin inZurich, slowly winning his confidence and eventually the rights to represent his work for a thirty year period. Little wonder that Le Corbusier described her as “a monster of perseverance, devotion and enthusiasm”. In 1960Weber had the vision of creating a museum designed by Le Corbusier, where his ideas could be presented in an ideal environment. The result was a pavilion known variously as the Centre Le Corbusier or the Heidi-Weber-Haus, and it would be Le Corbusier’s last commis- sion. Begun in 1964 but only completed posthumously in 1967 the min- imalist structure represents the culmination of Le Corbusier’s studies in architecture, interior design, and the visual arts. Gone are the hulk- ing concrete edifices he is so often remembered for and instead he has opted for a surprisingly light design formed by a pair of pre-fabricated glass-and-steel cubes. It is interesting to note that Le Corbusier altered his original de- sign from concrete to steel in 1962, suggesting that he was now mov- ing in a new direction (only the floor is of concrete and the rest was put together using twenty thousand steel bolts). The exterior surfaces are enlivened by multi-coloured enamel plates, planned according to a specific rhythmic system, and over the entire structure are suspended a pair of umbrella-like grey steel roofs weighing forty tons. Some com- mentators have compared the building to a Mondrian painting set in parkland. Inside the pavilion Le Corbusier’s penchant for functionality is immediately apparent, bringing to mind his famous comment that “a house is a machine for living in”. Undoubtedly Le Corbusier could have lived here and his spirit seems everywhere apparent. Now admin- istered by Zurich’s Museum für Gestaltung and known as the Pavil- lon Le Corbusier, the building unfortunately no longer contains the Le Corbusier-related artefacts assembled by Weber and instead functions as an exhibition and events space. A Zurich building inspired by the work of Le Corbusier is Kraftwerk 1, an apartment block at Hardturmstrasse 261–269 (Escher Wyss). It was completed in 2000 by a cooperative with the aim of experimenting with new types of living arrangements. The apartments range between two and thirteen rooms in size enabling up to fifteen people to share a single space. The main building’s huge communal terrace is inspired by Corbusier’s modernist residential housing design principle Unité d’Habitation . Other places of interest nearby: 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 73 185