The Swiss ponder their 'monster building'

"Le Lignon resembles nothing more than an immense wall, 12 to 14 stories high, snaking across a ridge above the Rhone," The New York Times reports. It is a survivor from a time when LeCorbusier's thinking exerted a strong influence on urban planning. 

In the Times article, reporter John Tagliabue considers whether a building so immense makes sense and whether it fosters a satisfying community. Le Lignon was erected more than 40 years ago  in Vernier, Switzerland, near Geneva, in the midst of an acute housing shortage. Nearly seven-tenths of a mile long, Le Legnon was thought to be the longest residential building in the world, but it turns out to be outdistanced (literally) by a building near Copenhagen.

"The question is whether to build another monster project like Le Lignon or to go the more accepted route these days of lower density housing," Tagliabue writes. Actually, it's not clear whether people in the Geneva area are asking that question or whether this is simply a rhetorical way for Tagliabue to wonder about it, in an interesting if undefinitive article.

Some people call the building, derived from the work of Le Corbusier, "a monster." Yet many residents seem attached to it. Its narrow, wall-like design allowed apartments to extend from one side of the building to the other, capturing views of nature. Its concentration, the article says, gives residents access to schools, health care, churches, stores, and other amenities. 

The question that remains unexplored is whether a more human-scale collection of individual buildings couldn't deliver many of those benefits just as economically—and provide a more engaging townscape. 

For more in-depth coverage on this topic:

• Subscribe to New Urban News to read all of the articles (print+online) on implementation of greener, stronger, cities and towns.

• Get New Urbanism: Best Practices Guide, packed with more than 800 informative photos, plans, tables, and other illustrations, this book is the best single guide to implementing better cities and towns.