Éveux-sur-Arbresle - Couvent de la Tourette

The convent of Sainte-Marie de la Tourette (1957-60) designed by Le Corbusier is located in a small valley and was built in the midst of nature at the edge of the forest for the Dominican monks of Lyon. The program consists of study halls, library, a refectory, a church, work and recreational areas and 100 dormitory cells for teachers and students. The spaces enclose and are unified by a courtyard which acts as a traditional cloister.

As in many religious buildings, light is used in symbolic ways. Le Corbusier employs light "cannons" to specifically direct light and tinges it with color reflected from and onto painted surfaces to reinforce the symbolic and narrative aspects of the building as one travels though it. The pervasive use of robust reinforced cast in place concrete complete with the visible "scars" of its form work, while consistent with other architectural preoccupations at this time of his life, also gives the building its tone of abject poverty.