Le Corbusier in 1929: The Invention of the South American Territory

Abstract

This article seeks to develop a theoretical approach to the notion of territory and the travel experience of Le Corbusier (hereafter referred to as L.C.) in South America in 1929, where he made efforts to promote the ideas of the modern movement. The article aims to examine the details of this journey in order to understand how they fit within the logic of the modernity project. In this regard, it is important to consider how the act of traveling constructs a record of the territory that manifests as a duality of “inventory and invention.” Specifically, it reflects on the details of L.C.’s journey through the subcontinent by analyzing the so-called “American Prologue,” a section of the text Precisions on the Present State of Architecture and Urbanism, originally published in 1930. This text is understood as a kind of travel chronicle and as a conceptualization of the invention of a modern South American territory.