Designing for the People
Elizabeth StoganenkoWhat does one envision when they think of a church? A tall, extravagant building with intricate ornamentation on the exterior and interior; A long nave ending at an apse within the traditional Latin cross plan. Everything the Église Saint-Pierre is not. This rough, concrete structure with tubes protruding from different sides will confuse those who see the unearthly form for the first time. Saint Peter’s Church, designed by Le Corbusier, was his third and final church built for the people of Firminy, France. Inspired by the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Le Corbusier focused on the relationship between people and their connection to nature and the cosmos. He believed as people grow closer within their community, they also grow closer to the divine and transcend reality. The site, form, materiality, details, and use of light uncover how Corbusier’s thoughtful design choices connect the people of Firminy to nature and the cosmos.
In the heart of Firminy, a low-income industrial-residential area, is the urban complex Firminy-Vert. The mayor, Eugène Claudius-Petit, asked Corbusier to turn part of the smoke- and soot-covered town into a “green city.” Their goal was to build a set of facilities and housing for the growing population of Firminy. Construction began in 1971, six years after the architect’s death, but was not completed until 2006 due to financial difficulties. Corbusier’s apprentice, José Oubrerie, oversaw construction after the architect’s death. The building was officially labeled a “cultural center” rather than a “church” due to a law prohibiting the French government from funding a religious building. Its construction gave Firminy the title of the European town with the most Corbusian buildings in one area. Using Stan Allen’s definition of a “field condition,” the objects within the field of Firminy-Vert were visually unified by the common use of béton brut concrete despite their varied function. These objects include the Stadium Firminy-Vert, the Maison de la Culture, a Unité d’Habitation, the Église.
The unique landscape of Firminy is used to shape the human experience of the church, a tactic commonly used by Le Corbusier as described by Colin Rowe in “La Tourette.” Initially it was proposed to place the church atop a hill. The city clergy were against this idea as they declared one should not climb up to the church but rather descend. Driving through the hilly town is an adventure on its own, requiring cars to squeeze through narrow streets, inches away from the surrounding stone walls. However, gorgeous views of the church can be seen from different sides when approaching it. The new location lower in the valley adhered to the clergy’s wishes and positioned it at a point of convergence for the community to meet and interact. The lower elevation placed it under the continuous watchful eye of the surrounding residential buildings, reinforcing Le Corbusier’s claim of building for the people of Firminy (Figure 1).
The topography of the site provides two different experiences when visitors enter the building. One can enter from the East side through the ground floor to access the reception hall. An alternate entrance is available using the ramp that is incorporated into the elevated portion of the surrounding land, providing visitors direct access to the church on the West side. The ramp provides views of the residential buildings that look out onto the church. There is a transition from the expanded outdoors, to a compressed feel of the enclosed portion of the ramp, to the expansion of the church once inside the sacred space. The ground and second floor consist of multiple smaller rooms. Rather than using corridors, the spaces are connected to each other, promoting human interaction rather than separating them. Most of the rooms are only divided by concrete walls with openings instead of doors, encouraging continuous movement throughout the building. The compressed spaces on the first two floors are a stark contrast to the singular expanded space of the sanctuary on the third floor.
The form of the church demonstrates Corbusier’s adherence to Roman Catholic values and elevates how humans experience each other and the environment. The Parish Association in Firminy chose Saint Peter (Saint Pierre) as the patron saint of the church. In addition to “pierre” meaning “rock” in French, Peter has been referred to as “the rock” of Christianity because Jesus called him the rock on which he would build his church. Corbusier evokes this by using a monolithic concrete form to envision a rock or cosmic mountain emerging from the vast landscape (Figure 2).
Le Corbusier strongly believed in simple, pure forms. He looked to Roman buildings such as the Pantheon, the Aqueducts, and the Colosseum to derive the use of platonic forms. The volume was generated through the merging of geometric representations of Earth and Universe, the square and circle. The base of the church is a twenty-four meter square. A truncated pyramid rises from the three meter tall base and merges with a cone as it reaches the apex (Figure 3). The top of this “mountain” is flattened and tilted towards the sun’s zenith (Figure 2). Corbusier employs ad triangulum, relying on regulating lines as a necessary means to an end and using it to bring order to the form of the church. An isosceles triangle five times the height of the base determines the sloped sides. The pitch of the church’s roof is proportional to the building height (figure 4). Corbusier added minimal detail to the simple form to intentionally connect humans to water and sunlight. A spiral gutter runs around the building, visually continuing the ramp and reinforcing the movement to the sky. A gutter-arc is on the East side of the church to keep water from entering the constellation openings below it (figure 5). Three light tubes grow out of the building to bring light to the inside space.
The truncated conical pyramid atop of a square prism was built using béton brut concrete. Corbusier focused on exploring the form of concrete outside the traditional system of vertical and horizontal planes. By seamlessly connecting reinforced concrete panels onto a temporary framework, they achieve the illusion of a smooth, homogenous mass. This material choice connects observers to nature by evoking the image of a mountain emerging from the landscape. This massive form sits atop of the square base, in which Corbusier plays with the repetition of opaque and transparent zones using concrete and glass. This use of literal transparency creates a juxtaposition between a light mass supporting a heavy, sloping form.
The building treats space as a material to be shaped and formed. In this case the material is “experience,” which is mostly shaped by the structure and apertures. The structure acts as the enclosure, creating a breathtaking interior space for the church. The heavy, load bearing concrete walls influence the experience inside through auditory, tactile, and visual aspects. One feels as though they are teleported to a primordial cave-like space. The whole body relaxes as it escapes the hot, sunny outdoors, and enters the cool, dimly-lit space within. Each step taken bounces off the thick walls and echoes for ten seconds. When all sound stops, it is almost quiet, with the exception of wind flowing through the apertures. The interior concrete is smooth and cold to the touch. The opaque property of concrete heightens the importance of light, which enters in a controlled manner through specifically chosen apertures (Figure 6). In a space like this, time stands still and the mind and body are at peace.
The sun is celebrated and plays an integral part within the design of the Église Saint Pierre as shown by the specially designed apertures. Corbusier continues his use of geometric shapes for the three light cannons. A square and circle form the two light tubes atop the roof (Figure 7). The square represents the moon while the circle represents the sun. They are tilted at a specific angle to manipulate how the sunlight enters the space. This method results in the most radiant beams at noon, spotlighting the altar on Good Friday and Easter morning. A third rectilinear light cannon is added on the West side of the church to catch the last bit of sunlight before it sets at night. This movement of light connects humans to the concept of time as the solar projections upon the interior walls change depending on the hour and season. The inside of each tube is painted a vibrant color which reproduces the spectrum of sunlight for the eye to see (Figure 8). A spiral of thin rectangular openings line each wall and follow the movement of people by rising with the steps. These apertures capture additional, indirect light which bounces off the ground outside and colors it red, yellow, green, or blue. Painting the slots of light makes the interior more joyful by creating a contrast between the colored lights and the gray concrete walls (Figure 8). On the Eastern façade, punctured holes reference the Orion constellation. Before Corbusier passed away, he did not leave any information as to what specific constellation he wanted to have depicted. José Oubrerie chose Orion because it is a universal constellation that does not have a connection to any specific religion, reinforcing Corbusier’s values. These unique apertures teleport the mind outside of the church walls to the cosmos and provide space for thought and contemplation (Figures 2 and 9). The polycarbonate cylinders that form each hole generate unplanned waves of light when the sun shines through in late morning, adding to the mystic feel of the space.
While the Église Saint Pierre is now classified as a cultural venue, its intended program can be experienced when mass is held monthly and on Christmas and Easter. The first two floors, however, are run by Saint Étienne’s Museum of Modern Art dedicated to preserving Le Corbusier’s legacy. Creating a meditative atmosphere that connects humans to themselves and the environment around them would not have been achieved without his intentional and subtle design decisions. The use of basic materials and primitive forms create a building that reminds humans of their earliest experiences of nature. The mountain of platonic solids, perforated by a constellation, connects to time through the movement of sunlight and creates a womb-like cave feeling. The mind is transported outside of the concrete walls to the cosmos, and in turn, reflects in on its own consciousness. Église Saint-Pierre is not an object out of place. Rather it is a natural object, built to strengthen the tie between Earth, Sky, and humanity.
Elizabeth Stoganenko is pursuing a Bachelor of Architecture degree at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. This essay was originally prepared for ARCH 535 taught by Joseph M. Berlinghieri in Spring 2023.
This essay was published as part of Transect Volume 5: Pedagogy (2024), Jacob Swanson, Daniel Girgis, Dhruvi Rajpopat, Fatima Fardos, Jimenna Alcantar, Elizabeth Kowalchuk, eds.