Notre Dame du Haut: Religion by the hand of a faithless Architect

By Carlos Pinto

11023588

U30007 – Introduction to Architectural History and Theory

Notre Dame du Haut: Religion by the hand of a faithless

Architect

Essay Question 1

Many people consider that all modern architecture is reductive and without

detail. While this is true of some versions of modern architecture built after

the 1900s it is certainly not the case for all.

This question asks you to choose a public building (i.e. not a residence) that

was designed with thoughtful detailing.

The public building you choose must be designed by one of the architects

mentioned in the lecture series or referred to in the list of seminal houses.

Choose three aspects of the building that are details with particular intent.

Explain the reasoning behind that detailing. Reflect on later buildings by that

architect and consider if the detailing evolved in some way.

Essay Question 1

Fig. 1 – Le Corbusier

Fig. 2 – Notre Dame du Haut, also known as Ronchamp Chapel

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret,

famously known as Le Corbusier, is

acknowledged as one of the

forefathers of Modern Architecture.

He has conceived many well praised

modern buildings that were

inspiration for generations. I intend

to show that Modern Architecture

was not constrained to reductive

and designs lacking on detail by

analysing three aspects of The

Ronchamp Chapel, located in

France, that were conceived with

detailed and thoughtful purpose.

Also, I want to see if those details

were a base for further thinking on

later buildings by Le Corbusier.

Would an outmoded form-praising

France hold back a visionary

architect? Many have had the

difficulty in emerging successful

from a means whose philosophies

were still entangled to the

traditional and strict back bone of a

society, but Le Corbusier would find

a way through it. The start of the

project of

3

Ronchamp’s Chapel start was

troubled by itself as Le Corbusier

was reluctant to accept the

commission by the Association de

l'Oeuvre Notre Dame du Haut, and

possibly for not being a man

without a preference for the

worshipping of the Catholic

Religion.

Such bitterness could be felt

because of the “rejection of the

Basilica at La Sainte Baume”

Samuel (2004)1. Le Corbusier

eventually gives in to the words of

Father Couturier, who said a great

artist is needed for the job, not a

Catholic architect who “would feel

bound to make copies of ancient

churches” (Couturier, 2004)2.

One of Le Corbusier’s main evidence

in his buildings is the use of

reinforced concrete. It was

introduced to him by Auguste

Perret while working at his office in

1908-1909 and it proved to be a

ground-breaking material.

Jeanneret realises how reinforced

concrete would enable him to

support the main structure of a

building only focusing on a few

points without having to be limited

by the arrangement of stone walls.

This innovation would be a main

characteristic of the church, and it

would be mostly visible on the

“double curve of its roof, shaped

like a concrete shell, and its

inclined walls” (Choay, 1960) 3.

These walls, apart from their

inclination, have more to them than

the mere shape that the naked eye

Fig.3 – Father Couturier Fig. 4- East Door. (in text : “Observe the play of Fig.5 – Auguste Perret

shadows, learn the game…”

4

can see. They are like shells that flow around themselves, and

provide the church with a cavernous

aspect, almost as if it is a fortress.

John Alford follows this line of

thinking and believes that Le

Corbusier brings an intent to fuse a

““symbolic fortress and tomb” with

the “Ship of Life or of the Soul””

(2003)4. This idea of an

insurmountable construction gains

strength when an analysis on the

East door is taken.

The choice of concrete as the

material for the door provides that

area with an intrinsic feeling of

indestructability to the visitor, and

whose entrance seems to be

holding the protection of something

of extreme value on the inside.

Flora Samuel recalls the “stone that

the angel rolled away from the

entrance of Jesus’ tomb on the

third day, the day of his

resurrection” (Samuel, 2004) 5, that

indeed is a mark on the history of

Christianity, and was possibly

recreated onto Ronchamp by

Jeanneret as the division between

the mortal world and a divine realm.

Le Corbusier himself talks about the

importance of a door, as he

mentions that the opening of a door

is the beginning of an entrance to

the realm of the Fig. 7 - East Door

Fig. 6 – South wall (left) and East wall (right), with the East door

in-between.

5

Fig. 8 – ‘The Birth of Venus’, by Alessandro Botticelli, 1486.

Fig. 9 – Detail of a woman and a pine cone, by Le Corbusier. Special attention to the last sentence which translation means “The

modern cathedrals will be built on this”.

Gods, and that these doors are “the

doors of the miracles”6 (Le

Corbusier, 2004) 6. Another peculiar

aspect about this door highlighted

by Samuel is the fact that it faces

the rising of the Sun, and therefore

reinforces the argument that this

door is indeed a symbolism to the

“death and resurrection of Jesus”

(Samuel, 2004)7. The curvy shape,

tenuously resembling that of a

female body on the handle of the

East door gives sense to Le

Corbusier’s seek for balance. Being

a ‘world ruled by men’, Corbusier

wants to make this church a place

where women can be an integral

part of the Christian culture.

The cockleshell next to the handle is

also a contribution to the feminine

memoire present in the building.

This imprint can have many

conclusions regarding its analysis,

and one of them is that of a literal

demonstration of the protective and

sheltering reasoning behind a door.

On a more broad view, the

cockleshell’s feminine connotations

can go back to the representation of

Botticelli’s ‘The Birth of Venus’.

Fig. 10 – East door’s handle detail, with a cockleshell imprint on

the top left corner.

Fig. 11 – Exterior of the chapel on the east side, during a

pilgrimage day.

Fig. 12 – South wall seen from the interior of

the chapel, with the door seen on the right

corner. 7

The role of Venus in the Roman

mythology as the Goddess of Love

and Beauty suggests that the

feminine shape of the body is an

interpretation that could be

perceived by Le Corbusier, and

therefore outlines the possibility

that the feminine body plays a role

in the conception of Notre Dame du

Haut’s design. Also, according to

Samuel’s research, “Le Corbusier

associated Yvonne with the figure

of Venus who, in turn, has long

been associated with that of Mary

Magdalene” (Samuel, 2004)8.

It can be suggested that this

confirms the relationship between

the

symbolism

behind the

origin of

the East

door, and

the feminism attributed to the

church’s design, or in the case of the

handle, to the role that Mary

Magdalene played in the ‘opening’

of Christianity to the world.

Another aspect of the building to be

mentioned is the aluminium

cladded roof. Its shape is so well

defined and yet so vague that it

“overflows with concrete, everyday

images”(Pauly, 2003) 9.

This may invoke in everyone’s minds

many different origins for its design,

but the truth is that according to Le

Corbusier, it has a

Fig. 14 – Southeast view of the underside

of the roof.

Fig. 15 – Southeast plan the chapel, clearly appealing the brown of

aluminium’s corrosion of the roof.

Fig. 13 – Pilgrim praying on his knees.

8

very specific source. “The shell of a

crab picked up on Long Island near

New York in 1946 is lying on my

drawing board. It will become the

roof of the chapel” (Corbusier,

1957) 10.

The use of shells throughout the

chapel becomes even more evident,

and apart from their protective

features towards the animal that

inhabits them, their natural

environment – water – is also

something relevant to the feminine.

Water is one of the ancient symbols

of feminism, and a scarce element

on the top of the hill where the

chapel is situated, which brings the

question regarding why such a

fascination for this liquid. Le

Corbusier did not forget the

difficulty on getting water and

turned the roof into a water

conduct that would guide the liquid

Fig. 16 – Le Corbusier, water plan of water cistern,

Ronchamp.

Fig. 17 – Water cistern and gargoyle.

Fig. 18 – The light shading between the roof

and the wall highlights its ‘floating’

characteristic.

9

Fig. 19 – South wall drawing. “Modulor everywhere. I

defy a visitor to give, offhand , the dimensions of the

different parts of the building”.

9

“through a gargoyle shaped like an

abstracted pair of breasts and

down into a cistern, womblike in

form.” (Samuel, 2004) 11.

Rather than being supported on the

walls of the building, the roof is

suspended on concrete columns,

which makes it look like it is

floating. This carries the role that

the roof plays in the distribution of

light to the interior of the chapel.

The gap it creates between the

ceiling and the walls enables a strip

of light to get through, providing the

visitor with a dramatic and

somewhat transcending view to the

ones in the interior of the chapel.

Light has always played a crucial

role in religion, ever since the

worshiping of a God amongst men.

Pagan rituals have always attributed

supernatural powers to the Sun,

and light is nowadays still seen as a

purification element in Christianity.

Le Corbusier manages to create an

incredibly contrasting use of light

outside as while “it breaks violently

against the pillars or the sunbreaks,

inside is manipulated with infinite

subtlety” (Choay, 1960)12. The

difference between two worlds then

Fig. 20 – Light shining in through the gap between the wall and the roof.

Fig. 21 – The light entering in the building through the South windows and roof gap provides a beautiful show of colours and

intensely transcending light.

10

seems to be defined, creating an

interior environment that is alien

and distant from the exterior. This

enhances the purpose of the door

mentioned earlier, which acts as a

definite barrier between two

different realms.

Light’s symbolism in religion is

relevant enough for the architect to

incorporate it onto a design, making

it part of the experience in the

chapel. But it is not only a part of

the religious aspect of a chapel.

Visitors still need to walk around

and the dim light emanating from

the top is not enough to distinguish

edges clearly on ground level. The

creation of windows in the South

wall then contributes to “the

manner in which daylight enters

the chapel” (Kahera, 2002) 13, the

lighting of the interior of the

building and also to the

embellishment with smaller details.

It also takes advantage of the use of

concrete, as this material enables its

perforation without jeopardizing

the infrastructure of the wall. Being

a connoisseur of the human body, it

wouldn’t surprise me if Le Corbusier

took the risky move to juxtapose

the concept and line of the human

body to the unreachable divine side

of the church. Lucien Hervé’s photo

of the southeast wall of Ronchamp

“looks uncannily like skin seen at

close range” (Samuel, 2004) 14,

Fig. 22 – Interior of the South wall.

Fig. 23 – “Blessed among all”.

Fig. 24 – Drawing highlighting the windows on the

South wall. There can also be seen the

representation of the ‘Modulor’. 11

Fig. 25 – Landscape view of the facing the South wall.

Fig. 26 – The enamel painted windows transmit a glimpse of colour into the inside of the chapel .

which corroborates Le Corbusier’s

words “I believe in the skin of

things, as in that of women”

(Corbusier, 2004) 15. The whiteness

of the exterior of the wall also

contrasts to the interior of the

building, “lit only by small

apertures (…) filled with coloured

glass” (Roth, 1993) 16.

The windows are hand painted with

enamel paint, creating colourful

light patterns on the opposite walls

and floor of the chapel. Seen from

the outside, the windows are barely

visible, and their purpose may be

seen as merely as another means

for light’s entrance into the interior

of the chapel. There is a feeling that

there is more to know from the

interior than from the outside as

the white wall overshadows the

small and detailed glass. But when

relating that to the principle of what

a tomb is like, the exterior is meant

to smother the interior purpose,

and it is possible that it was

considered in the design process.

“This south wall provokes

astonishment” (Corbusier, 1957) 17.

Despite having its construction

completed more than forty years

after Le Corbusier’s death, Saint

Pierre still does justice to his

affection with concrete. This

fortress-like church, completed in

2006, can be related to the

enclosure seen in Ronchamp’s

chapel, where windows are yet

difficult to be seen, making it look

like a lightless chamber. The light

13

Fig. 27 – Both sides of the wall have slopes

converging to the windows.

Fig. 28 – Congregation at the East entrance of the chapel.

comes from the top openings that

resemble chimneys taken from the

futuristic world of Antonio Sant’Elia.

The windows that are on the walls,

invisible from the outside then take

grid forms that are dispersed all

around the building on a lower level

when seen on the inside. It is

possible that the concept of the

windows was based on Ronchamp’s

South wall was transfigured into

Saint Pierre’s (Firminy, France)

building as they keep the visitor

extraneous to what the inside holds.

Le Corbusier seems to leave in these

two religious establishments the

idea that religion is a realm that has

to be reached after one abstracts

himself from all exterior senses.

Fig. 29 - Despite not holding religious celebrations in its interior, the lights

surrounding it creates an environment that recalls to a more extravagant way

of depicting the traditional glass tiles.

Fig. 30 – Electric Power Plant, Antonio

Sant’Elia, 1914

Fig. 32 – Saint Pierre, Firminy, France. (2006) 14 Fig. 33 – The top resembles the one of a factory.

Ronchamp’s roof is almost an

architectural piece on itself. The fact

that it rises over the wall seems to

metaphorically pull the viewer’s

conscious to the supernatural image

of Christ rising to Heaven. This link

to religion and to the incredible may

not have had great influence in Le

Corbusier’s later buildings, but there

seems to be a relationship between

the lack of contact between the roof

and walls on both Notre Dame du

Haut and Heidi Weber’s Museum,

opened in 1967.

There are big differences between

the materials chosen for the aspect

of both roofs, but their structural

concept remains to my view, very

similar. Despite not playing a role in

the dissipation of light to the

interior of the building the way it

does in Ronchamp chapel, Weber’s

roof’s plasticity has the same

aesthetic importance to the

building.

Fig. 31 – Heidi Weber Museum, also known as Centre Le Corbusier (1967).

Fig. 34 – The roof seen from ground level. 15

The attention to the roof on the

museum seems to be catalysed by

the structural beams that work

almost as lines that attract the

viewer’s sight to the top, but this

exterior positioning of the beams

would not have the same impact on

Notre Dame du Haut, as that such

deviation could have destabilized

the ‘supernatural’ purpose that is

embedded in it.

The East door of Notre Dame du

Haut is one of the parts of the

chapel that most attention was

given to. This is almost like a

sculpture particularly devised by Le

Corbusier, and its symbology and

purpose can hardly be transmitted

to any other building. Several

buildings were designed by

Jeanneret after Ronchamp’s chapel,

but few had the same contextual

intent.

The East door is a part of a whole,

and therefore it is very unlikely that

a posterior building or part of a

building by Le Corbusier had a

starting point that could have had

this door as a conceptual template.

Despite this, there are entrances of

buildings that gain similar relevance,

such as the one in Chandigarh’s

College of Architecture, opened in

1959. Just like the Ronchamp’s East

door, this entrance is cast in

concrete, and the material’s

predominance makes it a bold and

eye catching part of the building’s

design. Contrasting with

Ronchamp’s door, Chandigarh’s is

highly coloured with yellow, red and

black, but it holds details to it, that

like in the East door may escape to a

first glance.

Corbusier’s anthropometric scale

‘Modulor’ seems to be represented

here through the blue and red twist

detail. This possibly has the intent

to make the visitor have a first-hand

experience with dimension,

enhancing the importance of such

Fig. 35 – Chandigarh’s College of Architecture’s imposing

entrance.

Fig. 36 – Chandigarh’s College of Architecture (1959).

16

feature in Architecture, just like in

Notre Dame du Haut.

Le Corbusier may not be praised by

many as an innovative architect, but

he was an architect that reinvented

himself building after building. The

proof of this resides on his opening

to new challenges, which

culminates in the conception of

Ronchamp chapel.

This was a mark on his own

approach to religion, and to his

famous view of design to the

masses. After visiting the chapel,

James Stirling referred to it as a

symptom of “the crisis of

rationalism” (Stirling, 2003) 18. The

idea that Stirling tries to show of a

chapel that forces the explanation

of every moment of its design is not

at all out of context.

But, over the years it has been

suggested that religion itself, and

Christianity in this case, is

embedded in symbolism, and

therefore demands a thorough

understanding and decoding from

the scholar.

The fact that Le Corbusier, being

non-religious, created a building

with such a religious purpose and

meaning without having the

temptation of following the

repetitive work of precedent

architects is commendable. Le

Corbusier had the wish and belief

that people’s behaviours could be

changed by affecting their feelings.

On this line of thought, Le Corbusier

had the “intention to imbue each

visitor to Ronchamp with a sense of

the transforming and restorative

power of harmony, as manifested

through colour, sound and form”19

(Corbusier, 2004).

17

1 Samuel, Flora (2004), Le Corbusier: Architect and Feminist, Wiley Academy,

Chichester, England, Page 119

2 Couturier, Marie-Alain (n.d) cited by Samuels, Flora (2004), Le Corbusier:

Architect and Feminist, Wiley Academy, Chichester, England, Page 119.

3 Choay, Françoise (1960), Le Corbusier, G. Braziller, New York, Page 22.

4 Alford, John (n.d.) cited by Upton, Dell (2003), Signs Taken for Wonders,

Journal ‘ Visible Language’, Volume: 37 , Issue: 3, Page 332+.


Chichester, England, Page 127

6 Jeanneret, Charles-Édouard (n.d) cited by Samuel, Flora (2004), Le

Corbusier: Flora Samuel, Wiley Academy, Chichester, England, Page 127.

7 (2004), Le Corbusier: Architect and Feminist, Wiley Academy, Chichester,

England, Page 127.


Chichester, England, 127

9 Pauly, Daniele (n.d.) cited by Upton, Dell (2003), Visible Language Journal,

Volume: 37. Issue: 3. Publication Year: 2003. Page Number: 332+.

10 Jeanneret, Charles-Édouard (1957), The Chapel at Ronchamp, Praeger, New

York, Page 88.



12 Choay, Françoise (1960), Le Corbusier, G. Braziller, New York, 23.

Bibliography

18

13 Kahera, Akel (2002), Gardens of the Righteous: Sacred Space in Judaism,

Christianity and Islam, Cross Currents Magazine, Volume: 52, Issue: 3, Page 328

14 Samuel, Flora (2004). Le Corbusier: Architect and Feminist, Wiley Academy,


15 Jeanneret, Charles-Édouard (n.d) cited by Samuel, Flora (2004). Le

Corbusier: Flora Samuel, Wiley Academy, Chichester, England, 120

16 Roth, Leland (1993) Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and

Meaning. Westview Press, Boulder, CO, USA, Page 495.


York, Page 99

18 Stirling, James (n.d.) cited by Dell Upton (2003), Signs Taken for Wonders,

Journal ‘ Visible Language’, Volume: 37 , Issue: 3, Page 332+.

19 Jeanneret, Charles-Édouard (n.d) cited by Samuel, Flora (2004). Le

Corbusier: Architect and Feminist, Wiley Academy, Chichester, England, 119

19

1 http://42ndblackwatch1881.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/c-4.jpeg

2 http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=ronchamp#/d196mfl

3 http://www.menil.org/images/couturier.jpg


York, Page 46.

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mAE62RQ7w*ILiy8ZncsV*M7Xn9mld9LDdPmHQ6x-6aZP7byd8Mu1n/AP.jpg

6http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ckKPiPHuEvM/SwFclJMbSAI/AAAAAAAAA6o/5RaH

aSiZ9GY/s1600/CIMG7429.JPG

7 http://www.flickr.com/photos/iqbalaalam/2652314046/

8 http://www.artinthepicture.com/artists/Alessandro_Botticelli/birth.jpeg


York, Page 117.


York, Page 128.


York, Page 125.


York, Page 126.


York, Page 112.

Figure Referencing

20


York, Page 54.

15 http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_e_vSrda-

YB4/TTdkTlh_3qI/AAAAAAAABpo/UfBnX5feyes/s1600/Ronchamp+1.jpg




York, Page 67.


York, Page 108.

19 Jeanneret, Charles-Édouard (1957), The Chapel at Ronchamp, Praeger,

New York, Page 118.

20 http://lh4.ggpht.com/-

qGuGq7mLVlM/SHO7Eah_XOI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/O2xt51C0t6I/P1120815.JPG

21 http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3155/2501817738_d43be951bd_o.jpg

22 Jeanneret, Charles-Édouard (1957), The Chapel at Ronchamp, Praeger,

New York, Page 30.


York, Page 115.


York, Page 96.

25 Popa, Stelian (2008)

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs36/i/2008/261/5/b/R_o_n_c_h_a_m_p__landscap

e_by_stelianpopa.jpg

26

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HBLiCn_Xbps/SwEGPMSpEZI/AAAAAAAAAFY/Ae7Q

7aYckFo/s1600/interiornave.jpg


York, Page 17.

21


York, Page 17.

29 http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/07/27/arts/30ouro.slide3.jpg.

30 http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsi4qfsYIn1qjza6po1_400.jpg

31 http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/7862492.jpg

32http://www.concierge.com/images/cnt/articles/April07/new_wonders/cnt_

newwonders_001p.jpg

33http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--3iSG-

2Fh2Q/TbPaUg8IBTI/AAAAAAAABDE/4HwWkTS5S0I/s1600/Road+Trip+09-04-

2011a+14-04-2011+1031.jpg

34

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nbq2z7LV5VM/THvvS6YLEyI/AAAAAAAABzM/Gw3Z

hZ5xFEQ/s1600/F-Centre+Le+Corbusier,+Heidi+Weber,+Zurich.jpg

35 http://www.flickr.com/photos/36284883@N00/4199656386/

36http://www.ayushveda.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/chandigarh-

College-of-Architecture.jpg

22

Lecture Notes

Documents

Notre Dame du Haut: Religion by the hand of a faithless Architect