Radiant City

Radiant City

Le Corbusier

A movement

Radiant City:

• Green spaces
• Symmetry
• Skyscrapers

A radiant city is a city made to work well under sunlight, as its name suggests: RADIANT

http://www.cuepe.ch/html/plea2006/Vol1/PLEA2006_PAPER987.pdf

An article shows how the radiant city works during daylight compared to Paris.

"At the core of Le Corbusier’s plan stood the notion of zoning: a strict division of the city into segregated commercial, business, entertainment and residential areas. The business district was located in the center, and contained monolithic mega-skyscrapers, each reaching a height of 200 meters and accommodating five to eight hundred thousand people. Located in the center of this civic district was the main transportation deck, from which a vast underground system of trains would transport citizens to and from the surrounding housing districts. 

Similarly to the Green City Movement, the planning of the city consists of the main necessities in the centre of the region, with the residential and sub-commercial surrounding it. However, the difference between the two styles is vastly different. Green City Movement focuses on nature more than buildings whereas Radiant City is more of a hardscape city. The tall skyscrapers contribute to the concrete jungle, fitting a wide diversity of community into one single building.

"The housing districts would contain pre-fabricated apartment buildings, known as “Unités.” Reaching a height of fifty meters, a single Unité could accommodate 2,700 inhabitants and function as a vertical village: catering and laundry facilities would be on the ground floor, a kindergarden and a pool on the roof. Parks would exist between the Unités, allowing residents with a maximum of natural daylight, a minimum of noise and recreational facilities at their doorsteps.

Hotel Le Corbusier, Marseille

Singapore's architecture can be deemed similar to the architecture of Radiant City; tall, concrete and over-populated. The infrastructure connecting the buildings are of grid in Radiant City. 50 metres in height will be about 16-17 storeys high, which are now commonly seen in urbanized cities, like Singapore's HDB. Also, these buildings have facilities built in, like commercial-residential buildings we commonly see in Singapore.