Architect: Le Corbusier
Client: Lyon chapter of the Dominican Order
Location: Éveux-sur-l’Arbresle, Lyon, France
The Monastery of Sainte Marie de la Tourette was the last of Le Corbusier’s buildings to be built in Europe. It was completed in 1960. The building was designed to be a self-contained community for the silent monks and to accommodate for their unique and specific lifestyle. When designing this building Le Corbusier had one request which was from Father Marie-Alain Couturier and he requested for a "create a silent dwelling for one hundred bodies and one hundred hearts" (8). Le Corbusier is inspired by natural light and this is seen in how he designed the Monastery of Sainte Marie de la Tourette.
The walls of the church are made from concrete. They have the imprint of the wooden moulds in which they were hardened. Due to the uneven surface of the concrete when light hits it, it can cast its own shadow and give a textured physical presence. However, the texture is subtle enough to disappear under diffuse light of when light directly hits it. The concrete is a light grey colour which allows shadows to be casted and seen on its own surface.
The glass walls in the monastery line the cloister and they act as a veil to the view of the scenery on the outside. Unlike traditional churches where there is a repeated rhythm of columns and windows, the undulating glass walls are based on the intervals of light and transparency.
The openings that are in the facades of the corridors that face the courtyard are designed with checkerboard screen of concrete and glass. When light shines onto this façade it casts a patchwork pattern of light and shadow into the corridor. In the some of the order corridors the facades have openings that are a continuous slit at the level of a moving eye. The design of this opening limits the view to a slender horizon of the world outside. The colour of the walls in these spaces and the patterns of light that are cast onto the rough white walls contribute to the experience of natural light the occupants get as they walk through the spaces. The walkways are painted a soft blue or yellow and when lit they give a gentle blue or yellow atmosphere.
The monastery contains 100 cells; conversational cells where the monks may converse with visitors and monastic cells which were the monk’s own spaces. The conversational cells are small, simple curved rooms that are painted white. The walls are roughcast which gives a tactile finish. The openings in the cells are small and provide no distractions. The design of the monastic cells was simple but they each had light and their own view. The cells on the east had the view of the trees and the morning light, the cells on the south had the view of the pasture and the bright light of the midday sun whereas cells on the west have distant vistas and sunsets. Therefore, each cell is lit for part of the day.
Over the crypt in the church are three barrels which are painted white, red and black on the inside. The ceiling surrounding the three barrels is painted a dark blue. When light shines through these barrels it creates these beautiful orb-like shapes of light. This is an excellent design of daylight as these are positioned above the crypt and were designed to give a heavenly feel. Light is used here as a metaphor to symbolise heavenly bodies drifting up into the sky (9).
About the Architect
Le Corbusier was born in 1887 and died in 1965. He was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of modern architecture. Le Corbusier was the first architect to make a studied use of rough-cast concrete and we see from the walls of Monastery of Sainte Marie de la Tourette that he often used it in his own designs. “Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep”. He saw light and form as essential components of an architect’s vision, and the way he designed light into his building was often playful as it was dramatic.(10)
References
8. AD Classics: Convent of La Tourette / Le Corbuiser | ArchDaily [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 27]. Available from: https://www.archdaily.com/96824/ad-classics-convent-of-la-tourette-le-corbuiser
9. Plummer H. No Title. India University Press; 2013. 70–121.
10. Le Corbusier - The war years | Britannica [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 27]. Available from: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Le-Corbusier/The-war-years
11. Architecture | Architectuul [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 27]. Available from: http://architectuul.com/architecture/view_image/sainte-marie-de-la-tourette/16474
