Église Saint-Pierre de Firminy-Vert

Abstract

Looking northwest, overall view of the church; The last major work of Le Corbusier, it was completed in 2006, forty-one years after his death. Designed to be a church in the model city of Firminy Vert, the construction of Saint-Pierre was begun in 1971, six years after Le Corbusier's death in 1965. Due to local political conflicts it remained stalled from 1975 to 2003, when the local government declared the mouldering concrete ruin an "architectural heritage" and financed its completion. It has been used for many different purposes, as a secondary school and as a shelter. As the laicist French state may not use public funds for religious buildings, Saint-Pierre is now used as a cultural venue. The building was completed by the French architect, José Oubrerie, Le Corbusier's student for many years. In the World Architecture Survey of 2010, the building was ranked as second in the rankings of the top structures built in the twenty-first century, receiving four votes. American architect Peter Eisenman asserted in his response that this building is the most important structure built since 1980. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 4/18/2011