Cartesian skyscraper

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The Cartesian sky-scraper, designed by Le Corbusier in 1938, is a type of tower building known for its modern and rational design. This type of modern administration building has its source in the first sketches for the Pavillon de L'Esprit Nouveau in 1919, which proposes a cruciform form for skyscrapers, radiating light and stability. In principle the cruciform plan (with two axes) does not adapt itself to the path of the sun, which has only one axis. Studying further, it was seen that with this form symmetrical about two axes, the cruciform skyscraper does not receive sunlight on its north facades.

As a result, a new form was introduced: the "chicken claw". This is the insertion of many bays along both axes in plan, allowing for more light and air. With this everything became more alive, more true, more harmonious, more supple, more diverse, more architectural. Cases for its application were found in the plans for Anvers-Rive-Gauche, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Manhattan, etc. Such a form and its dimensions become a true urbanistic work, the fruit of modern techniques. The innovation right from the start was to oppose the purely formal and romantic conceptions of American skyscrapers (with their pyramidal forms and needle-like terminations).