World Heritage Corb: next up in our series on the 17 buildings by Le Corbusier that have been added to UNESCO's World Heritage List is the architect's Notre Dame du Haut, the small chapel in Ronchamp, France, that has become one of his most iconic designs.
Completed in 1954, the Ronchamp chapel was built for a Catholic church on a pre-existing pilgrimage site. The previous stone building had been largely destroyed during the second world war.

It is considered one of the most important buildings of the 20th century, and represents a key shift away from the sparse, functionalist form of Modernism that Le Corbusier displayed in his earlier projects.
The main structure consists of thick masonry walls, which are curved to improve stability and provide structural support.
The monumental curved concrete roof is a shell structure supported by columns hidden in the walls. A gap underneath allows a sliver of light to filter into the interior.
Although its external appearance suggests a complicated layout, the interior is fairly simple in plan.

Three thick white walls curl inwards from the outside to create smaller chapels at the sides of the main space. Two sit on either side of the north entrance and one in the south-east corner next to the main entrance.
The interior of one of the chapels is painted bright red and the sacristy on the north side is painted violet ? echoing the bright sections of colour in the architect's Dominican Monastery of La Tourette.

The floor fol...