He grew up in the typical Jura landscape that influenced his early childhood and his Geneva Calvinism roots.

[1] As a young student, he was a brilliant painter, artist and architect, greatly influenced by Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (Le Corbusier), his cousin and mentor for life.

From 1927 to 1937 they worked together with Charlotte Perriand at the Le Corbusier-Pierre Jeanneret studio, rue de Sèvres.

[6] Jeanneret, in collaboration with the English husband-wife team of Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, was responsible for much of Chandigarh's large civic architecture project.

His most remarkable contribution has undoubtedly been the designing of the fourteen categories of mass-housings that constitute the living and amenity areas of Chandigarh.

Jeanneret stayed on in Chandigarh after its construction, advising the local government in his appointed capacity as Chief Architect of the city.

[7] There were 8 linear meters of manuscripts, documents, photographs, drawings and letters between Jeanneret and Le Corbusier, which were collected over fifteen years during the Chandigarh project.