Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut
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Notre-Dame du Haut (Our Lady of the Heights) is a Roman Catholic chapel in Ron champ, France situated on Bourlémont hill between the Vosges and Jura mountains in Eastern France. Built using concrete during 1953-1955, it is one of the finest examples of the architecture by the Franco-Swiss architect Le Corbusier. The chapel is a working religious building and is under the guardianship of a private foundation, Association de l’Œuvre de Notre-Dame du Haut. The walls use reinforced concrete, and the roof uses béton brut. The walls are sprayed with gunite to give the entire building a continuous rough surface and then finished with a coat of whitewashed plaster. The climate of Ron champ is classified as temperate. After the former stone building had been demolished in the course of the second world war, the chapel was developed for a Catholic church on the preceding site of pilgrimage.
The magnificent play of volumes, light, colors as well as materials convey the plastic and “symphonic” interaction and make the architectural œuvre a total work of art. The concept of play or jeu is explained by Le Corbusier as “the notion of play thus implies an unlimited personal intervention, as this jeu must be played out by each individual in the presence of the object. This play of forms is not merely aesthetic entertainment. It is intended to be not only seen but also lived, and this concept allows one to understand the “architectural intention” intention: a human being, on the one hand, with a gestating idea, which he exteriorizes for those who look, live and experience – in other words once again a human being, another human being and so on. Thus, architecture needs a human language.(2)
Elevations (3)
It is undoubtedly light which connects the terms of language conveyed in an architectural work. In the chapel, light plays with the structures and the materials and stimulates the space by forming various moods at different times of the day and in different seasons. The chapel is arranged in the most detailed fashion, organized as spatial scenography. Light is the meritorious resource used to create an area of shadowy light or intense brightness, varying as per the moment. The most obscure mediums are cultivated in order to bring in the play of architectural forms.
Light is in the lead, qualifying the space and lending a spiritual dimension to the edifice. The building’s vital core, the altar, the “bare sacrificial stone” is highlighted by the harmony of light entering at intervals. (2) The composition of the space spreads out and opens up to the east and the way in which shafts of light penetrate this side of the chapel, both, frame the high altar. A number of openings pierce the altar side of the building and the choir wall, the light through these piercings is synchronized to attract attention to the space. The light here is welcomed in through a number of small concealed apertures and through the opening in the wall surface, where the statue of the Virgin is set in; the rays of light also pierce through the brise-lumière above the eastern door and through the thin gap beneath the roofing. In the morning when it is incredibly bright outside the choir is awash with light, stressing the outline of the elements it contains: the altar, the cross and the candelabra. the lighting of the nave is regulated by accurately assessing the fall of light on the splays of the wall openings on the south side. The intensity of light changes with the movement of the sun and is sharpest in the early afternoon. From one opening to another, the dimension of the windows, as well as the depth and direction of the splays varies; subsequently, sunlight is admitted at various angles and with varying degrees of brightness at assorted points along the south wall; by way of this, the building is lit in diverse ways, depending on the time of day, and this contributes to the richness of the spatial composition.(2)
Interior View (3)
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The brise-lumière system regulates the fall of light in the side chapels through carefully calculation which is influential in defining the interior volumes. Light enters via the periscope-shaped shaft and is subdued as it strikes the blades of the light shield; it is projected onto the grainy surface of the walls and finally, filtered and softened, falls onto the austere stones of the altar. Each of the towers of the side chapels is lit differently; the main south-west is lit constantly as the tower is bathed in a northerly light, whereas the light falling on the two small twin towers on the northern side, one turned to the east and the other to the west, varies with the change in direction of the sun. (2)This means that the play of light and shadow on the stippled walls and on the altar, stone again keeps on changing during the course of the day.
The role of light in constructing the space of the chapel is most marked in the gap beneath the massing of the roof, above the south and east walls. The narrow slit is not visible from the exterior, but from the inside it is astounding. Here Light acts as a means of structuring space and accentuating the dynamic forms of the building. This thin shaft of light establishes a subtle link between exterior and interior volumes and underscores the image of the roof shell as a full sail. The design of the load-bearing structure enabled this shell to be almost entirely freed from the south and east walls; these few centimeters of light radically transform the space, an effect achieved by the fact that the roof appears to “hover”. The direct sources of lighting are employed to give prominence to a volume or a form such as the roof covering, emphasized by the slit of light, or the elements in the choir (altar, cross) which are accentuated by the openings pierced in the eastern wall.(2) Light also enters directly through the windows in the south wall, but is subdued by the depth of the splays, thus diffusing only a scant supply of light inside. Conversely, in order to create a twilight mood at certain times of day with more diffuse lighting, indirect light sources are used, such as the strips of openings above the side doors or the brise- lumière in the towers of the side chapels. (2)
Lighting is employed as a material which affirms the complete solidity of the material used. The psychological ability of light is also taken advantage of to the maximum extent, delivering happiness, exaltation or serenity, engaging in prayer or meditation. Light plays with the forms and initiates an interaction of these forms. For Le Corbusier, color, far from being purely decorative “confers space”; it bestows an extra spatial dimension on the composition and, together with light, contributes to defining an architectural locus and creating various atmospheres. (2) Le Corbusier placed unique types of glasses in the openings of the chapel: clear glass, colored glass, and glass painted with simple motifs, a number of which have inscriptions of devotion to the Holy Virgin. The decision to use clear glass and to splash only a few precise places with touches of color resembles to keeping a tight rein on the use of light – a primordial element in the definition of the interior volumes. The colors employed are the same as those for the door: blue, red, yellow, green and violet. One can clearly observe the subtle effects created by funneling shafts of light through colored glass: these rays, softened by this filtering system, reflect on the splays of the wall openings and create colored shadows in delicate hues on the roughly plastered surface: pale pinks, greens and blues, tones that change as the light becomes brighter or grows dimmer and as the sun shifts in the sky. It is in fact the fruit of the architect’s research into space and forms, his study of light and materials, and his ideas for a synthesis of the arts. (2)
Glass (4)
Altar Periscope niche for virgin and child statue
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Diagram showing sequence of light devices(5)
South Façade (4) , Main Altar (4)
Section (6) ,Elevation(4)
Bibliography
1. Google Maps [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 26]. Available from: https://www.google.co.in/maps?hl=en&tab=rl&authuser=0
2. Pauly D. Le Corbusier. the Chapel at Ronchamp [Internet]. Basel/Berlin/Boston, SWITZERLAND: Walter de Gruyter GmbH; 2008. Available from: http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucd/detail.action?docID=4338392
3. Gallery of AD Classics: Ronchamp / Le Corbusier - 18 [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 24]. Available from: https://www.archdaily.com/84988/ad-classics-ronchamp-le- corbusier/5037e73328ba0d599b00038f-stringio-txt
4. The Chapel at Ronchamp — The Wood House [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 26]. Available from: https://www.thewoodhouseny.com/journal/2018/6/20/the-chapel- at-ronchamp
5. The luminous environment at Ronchamp Dimitris kaimakliotis 5 th Year Diploma. 2008.
6. Notre Dame du Haut Chapel by Le Corbusier - Ronchamp | Inexhibit [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 27]. Available from: https://www.inexhibit.com/mymuseum/notre- dame-du-haut-le-corbusier-ronchamp-chapel/
