Le Corbusier's Chandigarh to be removed from Swiss 10-Franc bills

2017-10-12T13:59:00-04:00

Swiss francs, like most world currencies, have long featured notable faces from the past. But now, each beautiful note is designed around an abstract theme related to Switzerland. For the 10-franc note, instead of the retired portrait of the controversial genius Le Corbusier, the theme focuses on Switzerland’s organizational talent – expressed by time.

Le Corbusier and his plan for Chandigarh won't be featured on the new 10-Franc bill anymore. The new bill is inspired by Switzerland’s "organizational talent" and punctuality; it represents a pair of hands conducting time, the country's longest railway tunnels, and a map of the country and of its railway network. The Corbusier 10-Franc bill was introduced and in circulation since 1995; it has been highly controversial in Switzerland due to his affinities with fascism and the Vichy government.

A pair of hands conducting the time with a baton on the new 10-Franc bill from 2017.

Two rail tracks connecting in the world's longest railway tunnel, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, part of the world's densest railway network reducing the time for traversing the Alps in Central Switzerland.

Federica Buzzi's critique on the Le Corbusier Modulor

2017-05-31T14:20:00-04:00

The Modulor Man is a healthy white male enhanced by mathematical proportional gimmicks ‘of nature’, such as golden ratio and Fibonacci series. He represents the normative and normalised body around which Le Corbusier conceived his designs. As a result, most modern architectural forms are all tellingly calibrated on a similar standard, the healthy white male body.

"Given the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s groundbreaking research regarding medicalisation in architecture and its extensive Le Corbusier collection," the author Federica Buzzi writes, "I think it is time to address the role of norm and standard in Le Corbusier’s work and its legacy."

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Le Corbusier's Chandigarh to be removed from Swiss 10-Franc bills

Federica Buzzi's critique on the Le Corbusier Modulor