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Ronchamp: Renzo Piano meets Le Corbusier
Designed by Le Corbusier and built between 1950 and 1955, the famous Notre-Dame-du-Haut chapel in Ronchamp, eastern France, got a new lease of life in autumn 2011 thanks to the Ronchamp Demain project. Among new additions are a visitors’ centre, La Porterie, and a convent, both designed by Renzo Piano. The project’s goal was transforming the hill crowned by the famous chapel designed by Le Corbusier into a modern, environmentally friendly tourist destination and a ‘global’ place of worship. The idea was born during the chapel’s 60th anniversary in 2005. Its advocates thought to build a convent which, they imagined, might be designed by Renzo Piano, one of the world’s star architects and an ‘artist’ of construction materials. The Italian architect’s work was much appreciated by the association, who imagined that a convent designed by Piano would measure up to French icon Le Corbusier’s chapel. That was before he met Sister Brigitte, abbess of the Poor Clarisse’s order, who was expected to move to Ronchamp with the six other nuns who were living in the old convent of Besançon.
Once the deal was sealed, Piano’s talent did the rest. The architect, who has signed a great many significant world projects (Bern’s Paul Klee Centre; Amsterdam’s NEMO Science Centre), has managed the difficult task of discreetly placing the monastic building in the western slope of the hill. The convent holds twelve small nuns’ residences, with a garden for contemplation, an oratory and several rooms for short-term spiritual retreats. Piano also built La Porterie, Notre-Dame-du-Haut’s new visitors’ centre. The stylish, graceful building has been built into the hill as well. Perfectly integrated into the landscape, it holds the ticket booth, a restaurant and a research centre focused on Le Corbusier’s opus. The surroundings have been re-designed by the firm of landscape architect Michel Corajoud. The Ronchamp Demain project as a whole has required an investment of nearly ten million Euros; funds were provided by local and regional government, Europe, the dioceses and donors. It was the price to be paid in order to revive the magic of Corbusier’s remarkable chapel, a site that attracts nearly 80,000 visitors each year.
_DSC4430
Ronchamp: Renzo Piano meets Le Corbusier
Designed by Le Corbusier and built between 1950 and 1955, the famous Notre-Dame-du-Haut chapel in Ronchamp, eastern France, got a new lease of life in autumn 2011 thanks to the Ronchamp Demain project. Among new additions are a visitors’ centre, La Porterie, and a convent, both designed by Renzo Piano. The project’s goal was transforming the hill crowned by the famous chapel designed by Le Corbusier into a modern, environmentally friendly tourist destination and a ‘global’ place of worship. The idea was born during the chapel’s 60th anniversary in 2005. Its advocates thought to build a convent which, they imagined, might be designed by Renzo Piano, one of the world’s star architects and an ‘artist’ of construction materials. The Italian architect’s work was much appreciated by the association, who imagined that a convent designed by Piano would measure up to French icon Le Corbusier’s chapel. That was before he met Sister Brigitte, abbess of the Poor Clarisse’s order, who was expected to move to Ronchamp with the six other nuns who were living in the old convent of Besançon.
Once the deal was sealed, Piano’s talent did the rest. The architect, who has signed a great many significant world projects (Bern’s Paul Klee Centre; Amsterdam’s NEMO Science Centre), has managed the difficult task of discreetly placing the monastic building in the western slope of the hill. The convent holds twelve small nuns’ residences, with a garden for contemplation, an oratory and several rooms for short-term spiritual retreats. Piano also built La Porterie, Notre-Dame-du-Haut’s new visitors’ centre. The stylish, graceful building has been built into the hill as well. Perfectly integrated into the landscape, it holds the ticket booth, a restaurant and a research centre focused on Le Corbusier’s opus. The surroundings have been re-designed by the firm of landscape architect Michel Corajoud. The Ronchamp Demain project as a whole has required an investment of nearly ten million Euros; funds were provided by local and regional government, Europe, the dioceses and donors. It was the price to be paid in order to revive the magic of Corbusier’s remarkable chapel, a site that attracts nearly 80,000 visitors each year.