The Carpenter Center is the only building in North America designed by Le Corbusier. Conceived as a “synthesis of the arts,” it unites architecture, painting, and sculpture within an open and flexible spatial framework.

Its five levels accommodate studios and exhibition spaces, while a ramp running through the center of the building promotes public circulation and offers views into the studios, making artistic production visible. The building also houses the Harvard Film Archive.

In the case of this late work by Le Corbusier one could ask whether there is any substantial aesthetic or qualitative difference to the other brutalist university builds of the time, or whether Le Corbusier should not simply be viewed alongside the mass of comparable buildings here.

Included in the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. In use. The building has been undergoing renewal/renovation works in around summer 2025 (last updated on February 12, 2026).