Saint-Pierre de Firminy was Le Corbusier’s final major project: a Catholic church in Firminy, central France, conceived in the early 1960s by the Swiss-French architect and completed only in 2006.
Above: the Church of Saint-Pierre in Firminy by Le Corbusier, view from the south. Photo: Pablo Garbarino (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
The church was part of Firminy Vert, a model neighborhood planned by Le Corbusier on the outskirts of the town of Firminy in the Loire department.
Working with architects Louis Miquel and José Oubrerie, he designed a striking pyramidal structure rising 33 meters (108 feet), built primarily of reinforced concrete.
The original scheme envisioned two separate buildings – one for the church and one for an oratory – but these were later combined into a single structure to reduce costs. The oratory was placed in the basement, while the main nave occupies the upper level.
One of Le Corbusier’s final works, the Church of Saint-Pierre in Firminy was inaugurated on 26 November 2006, following a construction process that spanned more than three decades. Photo Richard Weil (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Le Corbusier, Church of Saint-Pierre de Firminy: first floor plan.
Two periscope-shaped skylights pierce the roof; photo Richard Weil (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Construction began in 1973, eight years after Le Corbusier’s death, but progress stalled for decades. Financial difficulties and the decline of the local iron industry, which had sustained Firminy’s economy, halted development across the Firminy Vert district. The unfinished church was declared a monument historique in 1996, which paved the way for renewed work in the early 2000s. Under the direction of José Oubrerie, one of Le Corbusier’s former collaborators, the building was finally completed in 2006.
Today, the basement houses an information center, a permanent exhibition on Le Corbusier’s work, and an auditorium. The church itself, consecrated in 2007, is regularly used for worship.
The main hall features raked seating – an unusual arrangement for a Catholic church – and is illuminated by small circular openings that trace the constellation Orion. The altar, pulpit, walls, and floors are all rendered in bare concrete, while the benches combine steel with glue-laminated wood.
Illumination in the main nave is provided by two skylights and a series of circular apertures arranged to mirror the constellation Orion, projecting luminous streams onto the opposing wall. Photos by Richard Weil (CC BY-SA 2.0).
The “Orion constellation”; photo by Pieter Morlion (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
The church’s stepped seating is an unconventional feature for a Catholic place of worship. Photo by Richard Weil (CC BY-SA 2.0).
As in many of Le Corbusier’s buildings, the openings are painted in primary colors. Photo Richard Weil (CC BY-SA 2.0).
The towering bare‑concrete dome of the Church of Saint‑Pierre dominates the skyline of Firminy. Photo Richard Weil (CC BY-SA 2.0).