Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, better known under the pseudonym of Le Corbusier, was born in 1887 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. He was the son of an engraver, an enameller of watches and a musician. A man with multiple talents (urban planner, sculptor, painter, designer, writer, architect), he worked on projects on a global scale. 

He was trained in engraving and carving at the La Chaux-de-Fonds school of art in 1900, then became very passionate about architecture, drawing inspiration from the many trips he made during his youth.
He learned many techniques like that of the reinforced concrete in 1909 of the architect Auguste Perret. Its first construction dates from 1912.

As soon as he returned from his trip in 1917, he opened his own architecture studio in Paris. Auguste Perret immediately introduced him to Amedee Ozenfant, who introduced him to oil painting. Together they laid the foundations in 1918 of purism (a contemporary movement of Cubism), an artistic current proposing a return to order. He theorized the movement in the magazine L'Esprit Nouveau.
"Where wisdom arises, well-being is born." was the motto that defined the movement.

His first constructions of villas (1922-1929) and modern districts led him to formulate the "five points" of a new architecture: pilotis, roof garden, open plan, long windows and the free design of the facade.

As early as 1945, in order to solve the problems of urban densification, he advocated habitat in height in the green as a "unit of habitation" (Marseilles, 1945, Nantes-Rezé, 1952). He applied the Modulor theories by making constructions whose strong plastic expressiveness is combined with the use of concrete (Ronchamp Chapel, the Capitol in Chandigarh, India).
A leader of the modern movement, he left many writings to posterity. In 2016, Unesco finally classified his architectural work, seventeen sites (six in France), a world heritage of humanity.