As the only US building by Le Corbusier, The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University is a primary example of his work and The Five Points. Fortunately, this past weekend the weather here in New England finally made it to spring and I was able to take these pictures.

Note: The ramp was not fully completed as part of the early sixties construction. In 199? is was fully extended to the other side of the site, allowing pedestrian movement to flow through the building and public interaction by means of seeing some of the workings of the facility.

from Wikipedia: Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_Center_for_the_Visual_Arts)

The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University), in Cambridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge), Massachusetts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts) is the only building actually built by Le Corbusier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Corbusier) in the United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States), and one of only two in the Americas (the other is the Curutchet House (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curutchet_House) in La Plata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Plata), Argentina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentina).) Le Corbusier designed it with the collaboration of Chilean architect Guillermo Jullian de la Fuente (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Guillermo_Jullian_de_la_Fuente&action=edit) at his 35 rue de Sévres studio; the on-site preparation of the construction plans was handled by the office of José Luis Sert (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josep_Llu%C3%ADs_Sert), then dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Graduate_School_of_Design). He had formerly worked in Le Corbusier's atelier and had been instrumental in winning him the commission. The building was completed in 1962 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1962). The building was made possible by a $1,500,000 donation by the Carpenters, who never met the architect; in the end they had to increase their donation to meet increased building costs. It houses the department of Visual and Environmental Studies of the University, as well as the Harvard Film Archive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Film_Archive), the largest collection of 35mm films in New England (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England). It screens a large quantity of independent, international and silent films (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_films).
Le Corbusier never actually saw the building. He was invited to the opening ceremony, but he declined the invitation on account of his poor health.
Some have humorously described the building's appearance as that of two pianos mating.

The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts (1963) [virtual tour] (http://www.ves.fas.harvard.edu/)
Department of Visual and Environmental Studies Harvard University [website] (http://www.ves.fas.harvard.edu/)
24 Quincy Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

Directions within Boston: From all points take the Red Line (T) subway system to the Harvard Square stop, enter Harvard Yard and proceed west to Quincy Street. The building is also across the street from The Fogg Museum as another point of reference.

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Thanks InArch, it must have been really nice to stroll around New England Campus
on such a beautiful spring day. It's been almost fifteen years since I visited this building
and I'm amazed to see how well it is preserved... at least it looks like, in photographs.
I also thought it is interesting that we cannot really see two pianos in elevations,
despite it is such a dominant feature in plans.
LC's office must have had a strict recipe for concrete, cause its texture looks and feels
exactly the same as The National Museum of Western Art in Japan, built around the same time as
Carpenter center and it's the only LC building in Japan. I took photographs of it a while ago
and meant to post them, but kept forgetting... a sneak peek here. sorry about hijacking,
but you can see in them the building has strikingly similar feel although the are separated by 20,000km.
Will post them soon.

A remarkable building. Thanks for posting!
I hope you can add some more images to this thread in the future, interiors maybe?...
And takesh, it would be nice to have a closer look at those pictures too...

A remarkable building. Thanks for posting!
I hope you can add some more images to this thread in the future, interiors maybe?...
And takesh, it would be nice to have a closer look at those pictures too...

Void, I do plan on adding more photos in the near future. Harvard University has a campus wide no interior photography policy that is difficult to overcome. Also the building is very secure for many reasons and I don't know anyone from the program or staff.

I spent many years walking up the ramp and then turning around because you could not get to the other side of the block. Once the ramp was completed it became a completely different experience. The building is remarkable beyond the Five Points!

I was there recently. Here is my contribution to the thread. This is a rather challenging building to document.

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My faculty described this project as "corbusier takes through a ramp, a promenade, to a central space from where you can see the studios, The ramp 'promenade' defines the whole project as a singular experience"
Any pics relating to that experience???? Was excited when i saw this thread, but found no interior pics, prohibited? :cheers:

I didn't try to get inside. I was there to document the context of Harvard Square. If I head back, I will try to get some more imagery of the interiors.

arrrgh.. the railing is so distracting

I was there in 2004
Some pictures.

I am into panoramas...and...

...workshops.

and more workshop

I did not like it too much so I did not take very much photos.