Philips Pavilion PoËme Electronique
Le Corbusier, Iannis Xenakis, and Edgar VarËse, 1958

Links
Conoids and Hyperbolic Paraboloids in Le Corbusier's Philips Pavilion
INART55 The Philips Pavilion Po Ëme Electronique
Iannis Xenakis
Philips Pavilion PoËme Electronique Images

Philips Industries commissioned Le Corbusier to build their pavilion for the 1958 World's Fair to be a showcase of their technology. Iannis Xenakis was working for Le Corbusier at the time and ended up designing the building as well as writing music for some of the spaces (Concret P.H.. Le Corbusier designed the visuals for the inside and chose Edgar VarËse to create the music for the main space. It was an extremely complex installation with 350 speakers, all sorts of lights, slide and film projectors, sculpture and more. Xenakis' music and architecture was heavily based on mathematics, especially hyperbolic paraboloid shapes. Edgar VarËse worked in Philips then new sound studio in Eindhoven with two full-time technitions to create the main musical piece. Le Corbusier worked with his firm to create the visuals.

I am personally fascinated by this piece first of all because of the scale and integration of it. Everything is coordinated as one piece including the building itself. I also think it would have been an incredibly immersive and intense experience.

Submitted by
Hans-Christoph Steiner

<< Back to New Media Timeline