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Rediscovering Le Corbusier’s Radical Vision at La Tourette

As an architect passionate about innovative and sustainable design, visiting Le Corbusier’s iconic Couvent de La Tourette in Eveux-sur-Arbresle, France was a true pilgrimage. Completed in 1960, this Dominican Order priory is considered one of the most important works of modernist architecture, embodying Le Corbusier’s radical approach to light, form, and the relationship between the built environment and nature.

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Guest room with views towards the courtyard, concrete panels painted primary colours inspired by Piet Mondrian

Walking through the concrete corridors and communal spaces of La Tourette is a sensory experience like no other. Le Corbusier masterfully sculpts light, casting dramatic shadows and framing views of the surrounding landscape through carefully placed windows of varying sizes and configurations. The rough-hewn béton brut concrete, left exposed inside and out, lends the building a raw, brutalist quality while also honestly expressing its primary construction material.

Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette seen from the outside
Pilgrimage with fellow Le Corbusier enthusiasts from Manchester School of Architecture

Yet for all its austerity, La Tourette also achieves moments of profound beauty and spirituality. The undulating light cannons that pierce the chapel’s roof create an ethereal play of light that evolves over the course of the day. Brightly coloured panels and playfully asymmetric windows punctuate the monastic regularity of the residential cells. And everywhere, there is a powerful connection to nature, with rooms oriented to offer unique views of the sky and landscape.

Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette with a view of the loggia (balconies)
Loggias crowning the building provide passive cooling and solar control, acting as brise-soleil

In some ways, La Tourette was ahead of its time in terms of sustainable design strategies. The brise-soleil – designed as loggias topping the building, one for each monk’s cell – provide passive cooling and solar control, reducing energy loads. Operable vertical slot windows, covered by metal mosquito netting and furnished with a pivoting shutter, and the building’s east-west orientation maximise natural ventilation. The utilisation of locally sourced and inexpensive construction materials, such as concrete and wood, helps maintain the simplicity, cleanliness, and reflective nature of the monastic lifestyle within the spaces.

Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette view of the internal light on the stairs
Lighting on the threads of the stair

However, by today’s standards, the building’s heavy use of concrete – one of the most energy-intensive and polluting building materials – would likely be minimised in favour of greener alternatives. Large single glazed openings create significant heat losses. And the lack of insulation would not meet contemporary energy efficiency standards. La Tourette is very much a product of its era, designed before climate change and energy conservation became urgent global priorities.

Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette view of the Chapter Room
The Chapter Room with views towards the rolling hills and neighbouring forests

Imagining if Le Corbusier had designed this today, with advanced technologies and a greater understanding of each material’s embodied carbon and how to keep the heat in in the winter and the solar gains out in the summer. Concrete was chosen out of necessity because it was the lowest cost material at the time and could have been partially replaced with locally sourced Limestone. When utilised in its raw, massive form, stone serves as a load-bearing material with excellent thermal mass properties, absorbing and releasing surplus humidity, without degrading, contributing to the creation of timeless architecture. This opens up the debate about how adding another material to the building’s palette would significantly reduce its visual coherence and simplicity.

Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette view of the refectory
Le Corbusier designed strip lighting in the Refectory that illuminates the ceiling with no direct view of the light source

Yet there is still so much to learn from Le Corbusier’s vision. La Tourette reminds us that even the humblest materials can be elevated through thoughtful, artful design. It teaches us to be intentional about how we shape light and create visual connections to nature. Most of all, it challenges us to question conventions and imagine new ways of building and living.

Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette internal view of the Church
Le Corbusier deploys a whole range of devices to control natural light, sculpting space and volumes

Reflecting on my visit, very inspired to carry forward Le Corbusier’s spirit of innovation in our work at RISE, continually seeking opportunities to design in harmony with nature and push the boundaries of what sustainable architecture can be. For as La Tourette so powerfully demonstrates, the role of the architect is not just to build, but to craft environments that enlighten the mind, uplift the spirit, and point the way to a better future.

Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette external view of the church
Approaching la Tourette from the Chateau with the crypt and church in the foreground
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette, internal view of the Guest Room
View of the Guest Room before entering the Oratory
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
Detail of the concrete mullions and hit and miss concrete panelling
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
Inside the Oratory, looking up at the eastern facing rooflight
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
In the Oratory with a wardrobe designed by Le Corbusier to include all that is required for the service including the robes
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
The Dominican cells all have a loggia -balcony- to allow the contact to the outside, and to look for the sun and views from the room
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
Corridor from the entrance leading to the Guest Room
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
View of the Oratory designed as a cube resting on a cruciform base, surmounted by a pyramid
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
View of the courtyard showing the slope of the land being held back by concrete columns (pilotis), detaching the building from the ground
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
Operable vertical slot windows, covered by metal mosquito netting and equipped with pivoting shutters, along with the building’s east-west orientation, maximise natural ventilation.
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
View towards the Entrance from the corridor down to the Church
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
Kitchen designed by Le Corbusier, painted with primary colours
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
Internal view of the operable vertical slot windows with rudimentary sliding bolt to lock in closed or open position
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
Surface mounted light switches
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
Inside the Church is animated by simple volumes and the play of light. The arm rests are finished with locally sourced hardwood
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
Coloured opening mitigate against the absence of stained glass windows
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
A large pivot door with the panel joints depicting a cross
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
Seven ‘machine guns’, designed by Xenakis, provide light into the sacristy
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
Concrete flowers at the end of the walkways, obstructing the view, ensuring the friars are not distracted on their journey throught the building
Rediscovering Le Corbusier's Radical Vision at La Tourette
The church, as well as oratory and crypt, is the only space that does not open to nature, animated by the interaction of the simple volumes and the play of light. As the seasons and days pass, forms and colours change and different spaces within the church are enhanced.

Coloured light mitigating the absence of stained glass windows

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