José Oubrerie (Cortesía de Knowlton School, The Ohio State University)
When he drowned in the sea at Cap-Martin in August 1965, Le Corbusier left unrealized his project for the Saint-Pierre Church at Firminy, a late masterpiece of his that we can visit today thanks to José Oubrerie. The then young collaborator in the studio, who had worked in projects like the unité of Firminy and the hospital in Venice, took over the commission, and unflinchingly kept at it until he saw the temple consecrated – after numerous incarnations – 41 years later. He also saw the Pavillon Le Corbusier in Zurich and the Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau in Bologna open, so his name was definitively tied to the master’s.
Of course his sparse own building work – little more than the French Cultural Center in Damascus and the Miller House in Kentucky – bears Corbusian influence, unmistakable in powerful concrete volumes, rhetorical facades, and promenades architecturales. With Europe losing interest in its modern heritage, he came in contact with the circle of the New York Five, who were very drawn to Le Corbusier’s sculptural forms, and Oubrerie eventually moved to the United States, where a brilliant career teaching in many schools ended only with his passing away this past 10 March. His and Doshi’s death last year leave the world bereft of the Swiss-French master’s last protégés.
