July 30, 2006
Architecture
A Church in France Is Almost a Triumph for Le Corbusier
By NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF
Firminy, France
MORE than 40 years after he drowned off a remote beach in the south of
France, Le Corbusier remains a transcendent force. Even if some blame
him for the modern city’s greatest sins, from the steamrolling of
historical neighborhoods to a stultifying emphasis on function, he is
indisputably the most influential architect of the past century.
Now workers in this rural mining town are putting the finishing touches
on a small church he designed with a former student in the early 1960’s.
A soaring asymmetrical cone that rises out of an imposing concrete base
like some strange pagan temple, it is a reminder of why Le Corbusier’s
work inspires such passionate devotion.
Completed by that protégé, José Oubrerie, who has tinkered with many
elements of the original sketches, the Church of St. Pierre has stirred
debate among Parisian academics about the ethics of finishing a work
left behind by a legendary architect.
But the core of Le Corbusier’s concept remains intact: a sanctuary that
distills the history of architecture from the primitive cave through
Modernism. At the same time its warped planes anticipate the fluid
architectural forms of today, though with a restraint that shows how so
much recent work has been diluted by cheap effects.
cont'd....
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/arts/design/30ouro.html?_r=2&adxnnl=0&oref=slogin&ref=design&adxnnlx=1154261649-C4p5eaFPP8GYmkw6oNNRDw&pagewanted=print