| Works
Chapel
of St. Ignatius
Notre-Dame-du-Haut
Church
of the Light
All
Saints Margaret Street
Tokyo
Church of Christ
|
Despite
the fact it is almost 50 years old, Le Corbusier’s Notre-Dame-du-Haut cannot
be ignored in a survey of modern church architecture. While my program
differs from it in many ways, the non-traditional configuration of the
church is nevertheless worth learning from, as it is a masterpiece.
History
 |
Located near Ronchamp,
France, Notre-Dame-du- Haut sits atop a hill that has been a pilgrimage
site since the thirteenth century. Drawn by stories of miracles,
thousands of visitors come every year on important feast days, though the
parish population is small. The previous structure had been destroyed
by German army bombs in the fall of 1944. The commission for the
new building was in the spirit of rebuilding after the Second World War
and a renaissance in religious art in France. Le Corbusier started
on the project in 1950. |
Program
The program had some
difficult requirements: a church to serve a parish of 200, but capable
of dealing with crowds of pilgrims on important feast days (like August
15th and September 8th); two small chapels to hold services separately
from the main Mass; a sacristy; a small office; a housing for a 17th century
polychrome wood sculpture of the Virgin and Child; and a means to collect
rainwater as water resources are scarce on the hilltop.
Underlying Ideas
Le Corbusier, raised
Protestant, sought to learn as much as possible about the Catholic faith
when he worked on Ronchamp. He was particularly interested in the
veneration of the Virgin Mary and saw the relationship of the Church to
parishioner (or pilgrim) as that of mother and child. The entrance
elevation thus curves to the south, to embrace the visitor as family and
welcome him to the church. The east elevation curves similarly, housing
the outdoor chapel which deals with the extra capacity required on feast
days. The mother-child relationship is also expressed through the
placement of the polychrome wood sculpture of the Virgin. Le Corbusier
placed the statue in a niche high above the altar, so that the mother figure
would overlook everybody in the church. The niche is built so that the
statue can bee seen from both the inside and the outside; the Virgin Mary
thus presides over services in both chapels. |