The Chapelle and Ronchamp.

The Chapelle du Notre-Dame du Haut, built by the French architect Le Corbusier, is situated in the small town of Ronchamp near the Swiss border. This is the only attractive of Ronchamp since there is not much to see there. From the train station it is a five minutes’ walk into town, then a twenty minutes’ walk up the hill to the chapel.
The atmosphere by the chapel is magical. Unlike a typical church, this building blends into the surrounding forest perfectly. The interior is curious and exciting, yet at the same time it is restful to the eye. The use of light is magnificent. The roof does not actually rest on the walls but appears to be floating 10 cm above it. There are two altars, on the inside and outside in mirror image. This is symbolically beautiful since the sanctuary is both inside and outside.
This church was built between 1950 and 1954;the building is simple - an oblong nave, two side entrances, an axial main altar, and three chapels beneath towers – as is its structure, with rough masonry walls faced with whitewashed Gunite (sprayed concrete) and a roof of contrasting beton brut.

Le Corbusier’s concept of architecture.

“This chapel was born of a long research in the course of five years. Notre Dame du Haut is a fruit of numbers.”

The visit to Hadrian’s villa left a deep impression on Le Corbusier. He discovered in the Roman building a fundamental fact of architecture, one that does not belong to a particular period or style but to the architecture of all times: the relation between light, form and space. In the project for Ronchamp he found the appropriate occasion to give a unique architectural expression to those fundamental facts. The building is a compendium of different formal devices to control the penetration of light in the interior space. Light can reach the inside through the gaps left between the different components that make up the building.
For example, through the gap between the roof and the supporting walls, or between the south wall and the wall of the altar. This aperture is closed by a brise-soleil structure that avoids the direct incidence of the light. In the south wall, the relation between light and architectural form is expressed in a more dramatic way: the wall seems to have been perforated by the force of a light rays. The towers are another mechanism to get the light inside the building. They raise from the lower mass to capture the light coming from the sky and to conduct it to the inside.

“Light and illumination are inseparable components of form, space and light. These are the things that create ambinance and feel of a place, as well as the expression of a structure that houses the functions within it and around it. Light renders texture, illuminates surface, and provides sparkle and life.”
Le Corbusier

Sketches for Ronchamp