SAINTE MARIE DE LA TOURETTE (1956-1960)

Type-
Convent
Architectural style-
Modernist, International
Town or city-
Éveux, Rhône-Alpes
Country-
France
Construction started-
1956
Completed-
1960
Renovated-
1981
Architect-
FIGURE 29: SAINTE MARIE DE LA TOURETTE
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sainte_Marie_de_La_Tourette_2007.jpg
Le Corbusier
ABOUT:
• Sainte Marie de La Tourette is a Dominican Order priory in a valley near
Lyon, France designed by the architect Le Corbusier and constructed
between 1956 and 1960.

La Tourette is considered one of the more important buildings of the late

Modernist style.

• It was under the instigation of Reverend Father Couturier that the

Dominicans of Lyon charged Le Corbusier with the task of bringing into
being at Éveux, near Lyon, the Convent of La Tourette, in the midst of
nature, located in a small vale that opens out onto the forest.

• unique example in which to explore a case study of architectural form as

understood by Le Corbusier’s beliefs, attitudes, and personal morphologies
toward his profession.
 SAINT MARIA LA TOURETTE IS A STUDY OF DUALISTIC
RELATIONSHIPS
INDIVIDUAL LIGHT
COLLECTIVE DARK

NATURE
ARCH

INCREMENTIAL HIGH
CONTINOUS LOW

IRRATIONAL
RATIONAL

SECULAR LUCID
RELIGIOUS OBSCURE

INDIVIDUAL
COLLECTIVE

FIGURE 30: DUALISTIC RELATIONSHIPS

SOURCE: http://davidjenista.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/case-study-full.pdf
FIGURE 31: COLLECTIVE AND INDIVIDUAL
SOURCE: http://williamlang.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/formal-stategies-form-analysis.pdf

1. SOCIAL PAIRING OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND

THE COLLECTIVE
FIGURE 32: WALLS AND COLUMNS
SOURCE: http://williamlang.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/formal-stategies-form-analysis.pdf

2. SPATIAL PAIRING OF WALLS AND

COLUMNS
FIGURE 33: NATURE AND ARCHITECTURE
SOURCE: http://williamlang.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/formal-stategies-form-analysis.pdf

3. OPPOSITION OF NATURE AND

ARCHITECTURE
FIGURE 34: ENTRANCE FLOOR PLAN
SOURCE: http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbc-drawing.cgi/Convent_of_La_Tourette.html/La_Tourette_Plan_1.jpg
FIGURE 35: REFECTORY FLOOR PLAN
SOURCE: http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbc-drawing.cgi/Convent_of_La_Tourette.html/La_Tourette_Plan_1.jpg
FIGURE 36: CELL FLOOR PLAN
SOURCE: http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbc-drawing.cgi/Convent_of_La_Tourette.html/La_Tourette_Plan_1.jpg
FIGURE 37: SECTION DRAWING AND EXTERIOR VIEW
SOURCE: http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbc-drawing.cgi/Convent_of_La_Tourette.html/La_Tourette_Plan_1.jpg
 AS A WHOLE, THE MONASTERY IS GOVERNED THROUGH THE
FORMAL AND CULTURAL LOGICS OF A PROGRAM.
THESE PLANS ILLUSTRATE A FORMAL
GOVERNANCE. EACH PROGRAMATIC
TYPOLOGY, IS DELINEATED THROUGH
COLOUR.

PRAYER

DINING

EDUCATION

LIVING

VISITOR HOLDING

THE MESSAGE OF THESE SPACES SUGGEST

SINGULAR FUNCTIONALITY, THIS IS
PLAUSIBLE BEING THAT THE MONKS OF LA
TOURETTE LED A VERY STRUCTURED AND
STRICT LIFESTYLE.
FIGURE 38: FORMAL PROGRAM
SOURCE: http://davidjenista.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/case-study-full.pdf
 THESE PLANS ILLUSTRATE A
CULTURAL LOGIC OF LA
TOURETTE.

PUBLIC SPACE

PRIVATE SPACE

BECAUSE THE MONKS LIVED MOSTLY IN

SOLITUDE, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EXIST
AS A CULTURAL BOUNDARY BETWEEN
THE INSIDERS AND THE OUTSIDERS.

FIGURE 39: FORMAL PROGRAM

SOURCE: http://davidjenista.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/case-study-full.pdf
 FACTS:
• The structural frame is of rough reinforced concrete.
• The panes of glass located on the three exterior faces achieve, for the
first time, the system called "the undulatory glass surface".
• In the garden-court of the cloister, the fenestration is composed of large
concrete elements reaching from floor to ceiling, perforated with glazed
voids and separated from one another by "ventilators": vertical slits
covered by metal mosquito netting and furnished with a pivoting
shutter.
• The corridors leading to the dwelling cells are lit by a horizontal
opening located under the ceiling.
• Built as a Chapel, residence and place of learning for Dominican
friars, the monastery groups around a central courtyard a U-shaped
mass, and the court is closed off by the chapel at the end.
• Though still functioning for a greatly-reduced population of monks, La
Tourette has become something of a pilgrimage site for students of
architecture. Overnight stays can be arranged in the unused cells.