The Olympic stadium project - Le Corbusier and Baghdad

This display examined one of the projects by Le Corbusier,  in 1957begun his fascinating design for a sports stadium in Baghdad. With specially commissioned models, it gave sense of what this marvellous structure would have looked like had the project come to fruition. The stadium was planned around a set of innovative radially arranged ribs or "voiles", the designs for 20 of which also feature in the display.

Le Corbusier regarded athletes as metaphors for modern man, and with Pierre Jeanneret he created an experimental design for a huge stadium for 100 000 people for athletic/cultural use. Le Corbusier referred to it as a "civic tool for a modern age."

The stadium was to be part of a larger complex of sports facilities, originally the basis of Baghdad's bid for the 1960 Olympics.  The project remained in Le Corbusier's office until his death, generating over 950 drawings, the latest ready for construction.  Only the gymnasium, based upon his boîte à miracles, was actually constructed, posthumously in 1981.

The concept of the "voiles" is derived from the portico of the Palace of the Assembly at Chandigarh, and the play between 2D and 3D space was built into the drawings, which are part conventional drawing, part sketch and part model.  The exhibit offered a window into the innovative working techniques of Le Corbusier's late office.

This display was curated by Peter Carl, University of Cambridge and Irena Murray, Sir Banister Fletcher Director, British Architectural Library, RIBA.

With thanks to the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.