CAMBRIDGE, MA.- The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at
Harvard University is Le Corbusier's only building in North
America, and one of the last to be completed during his
lifetime. Made possible by a gift from Alfred St. Vrain
Carpenter, it was completed in 1963, with the intent to house
the art-making programs of Harvard College under one roof and to
symbolize the Universitys visible recognition of the importance
of contemporary art. The undergraduate visual arts program, the
Department of Visual and Environmental Studies (VES), was
created five years later, accepting its first honors
concentrators in 1968. Le Corbusier designed the Carpenter
Center at his Paris studio with the collaboration of Chilean
architect Guillermo Jullian de la Fuente; the on-site
preparation of the construction plans was handled by the office
of Josep Lluís Sert, then dean of the Harvard Graduate School of
Design. Its wonderful collection of concrete forms bring
together many of the design principles and devices from Le
Corbusi