Vilamajó - Le Corbusier. Montevideo - New York. 1929 - 1947

Confluences and divergences in the itineraries of Julio Vilamajó and Le Corbusier

Abstract

Based on documentary sources found inside two suitcases belonging to Uruguayan architect Julio Vilamajó, research is carried out aiming at revealing or confirming aspects of his tangible work and disciplinary thought, as well as unveiling some distinctive characteristics of his personality.
Within this field of research, there appear two crucial moments in his career, those in which he relates to Le Corbusier, clearly defining key events in his professional life.
In 1929, Le Corbusier decides to visit the Río de la Plata and arrives in Montevideo, where he gives two important lectures that shall have an influence on a disciplinary community that was already going along the path of the Modern movement, and with a particular nuance in this Uruguayan architect’s thought.
Many years later, in 1947, Vilamajó is chosen to join the Board of Design Consultants for the project regarding the United Nations Headquarters in New York, where he meets Le Corbusier again.
Research concludes determining a special bond between Vilamajó and Le Corbusier. The innovative proposals of the Swiss-French architect were assumed reflectively, not submissively, being a decisive contribution to a clearly personal path adapted to its context.