This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Le Corbusier and to celebrate the legacy of the iconic designer, Groupe Renault’s industrial design team recently designed a project for a 21st century car inspired by the architect’s modernist principles and theories. Known for both the birth of modern architecture and the modern automobile, the interwar period was followed by noticeable growth in car ownership worldwide after 1945 — a trend mirrored the increase of popularity of country houses such as the Villa Savoye in Ile de France.

Two years ago, the Renault team decided to investigate the topic of “French cultural objects,” which led them led them back to the golden age of the automobile in the 1930s. Inspired by the influence of Le Corbusier as “a conceptual prequel to the modern automobile,” the project reflects the designer’s ideas of simplicity, a visually and aesthetically-pleasing structure, geometric elegance and mastery of light. The result was the creation of the Coupé Corbusier concept car — a sleek, elegant design that pays homage to the visionary designer who reinvented architecture while also making it more broadly accessible to the public.