Notre Dame Du Haut - The South Wall

The South Wall

The South wall of Ronchamp is a creature of its own. Rather than designing a straight, 50 cm thick concrete piece, Le Corbusier spent months trying to perfect the outside partition. What he came up with is a wall that starts out as a point on the east end, and expands to up to 10 feet thick its west side. As it moves from east to west, it curves towards the south. To further expand his design's complexity, Le Corbusier decided to make the windows of the wall extraordinary. The openings slant towards their centers at varying degrees, thus letting in light at different angles. Furthermore, the glass that closes them off is set at alternating depths. This glass is sometimes clear, but is often decorated with small pieces of stained glass in typical Corbusier colors: red, green, and yellow. These stained pieces radiate like rubies, emeralds, and amethysts, and act as the jewels of the already complex wall. After this extensive design, Le Corbusier decided not to make the southern partition a bearing wall. Instead, the building's roof is supported by concrete columns that make it appear to float above the rest of the space.

In a final move of symbolism, Le Corbusier filled the inside of the wall with the rubble from the previous chapel that stood at the location. Thus the old church, and all of its history, would remain in the site.