Paul Raftery
Church of Saint-Pierre de Firminy
By Le Corbusier 1954-67

Following the original plans the Church was completed in 2006, 40 years after it’s conception.

Le Corbusier designed only three religious structures, all in France.
Two of them were realized: La Tourette and Ronchamp.

Click to view images.

The geometry of Saint-Pierre is produced by the projection of a circle onto a square, a metamorphosis that represented for the architect the transition from the earthly to the spiritual realm and one made possible by a complex hyperboloid shell enclosure.

The square base of the church containing functional rooms is surmounted by an enormous truncated cone housing the sanctuary, which is lit by an array of protruding "light cannons." The shell, and the winding pathway into and through the sacred space - another version of Le Corbusier's "Promenade Architecturale" - are the central elements of Saint-Pierre.

Firminy, located in the Loire Valley west of Saint-Etienne, has the largest concentration of Le Corbusier buildings in one place after Chandigarh City. Here besides the Church you can visit L’Unité d’Habitation (including a model apartment, the nursery school and the roof terrace), L’Espace Le Corbusier in its entirety, and the open-air theatre. and the church.
Excerpted from article by Jan Otakar Fischer.

Paul Raftery lives in London after 10 years of working in France where he lived in Paris and also at Corbusier’s Unité in Marseille.

Website: Paul Raftery

October 29, 2007