Plan Voisin

[1][2] In 1922, Le Corbusier presented Ville Contemporaine at Salon d'Automne; the plan was a utopian urban concept intended to house three million inhabitants in a series of skyscrapers.

[1] This proposal was sponsored by his friend, the avant garde aircraft and automobile builder Gabriel Voisin,[3] whose cutting-edge design aesthetic was admired by Le Corbusier.

[4] While upper class citizens of many urban areas relocated to suburbs, the bourgeois residents of late 19th century Paris largely remained in the city center.

These skyscrapers would have adhered to the Le Corbusian model of the unité d'habitation, a comprehensive living and working space, and an early inspiration for brutalism.

[6] Le Corbusier developed his proposal for Plan Voisin in this way in explicit contrast to dense urban areas such as Downtown New York City, which he described as a "nightmare".

While it is unclear if the general public supported the plan, Le Corbusier did promote his ideas through manifestos and periodicals, which were widely read by industrialists and the avant-garde of the time.

The plan had significant influence in the purpose-built Brazilian capital of Brasília as well as the Lekkumerend housing in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, which drew inspiration from the principles of the Athens Charter.