Plate G1. no1: The South Wall: Chapel Notre-Dame du Haut (Ronchamp) by Le Corbusier

As the picture suggests, there was a revelation implicit in its taking……

I taught, briefly, in a voluntary capacity at the Mackintosh School of Architecture. By way of thanks, I was invited onto an excursion to Le Corbusier’s seminary in La Tourette, sometime in the early 90s. We went by bus, in January, in a blizzard……

On the way back we stopped at Le Corbusier’s chapel at Ronchamp. It was a cold, but strikingly beautiful day. The snow was two feet deep; it sparkled, pure white and blinding in sunshine; truly, it was glorious. But we were treated to the transformative power of architecture – for a sight, even more beautiful than that witnessed outside, greeted us……

“The history of architecture is the history of the struggle for light.”
Le Corbusier.