Flashback: Do you like Le Corbusier? | Aimez-vous Le Corbusier?

French version below | Version Française ci-dessous

Chapel viewed from the South | Chapelle vue côté sud.

During my last trip to France, back in February, I was lucky to visit the famed Chapelle de Ronchamp by Le Corbusier (Wikipedia).

I had the opportunity to snap a few photos, which hardly do the building justice. Le Corbusier has a knack for designing religious buildings that generate uplifting and highly spiritual experiences, even to the non-religious. His buildings are always best experienced in person as the space, light and materials are difficult to convey in photographs.

I took these shots on a freezing, sunny winter morning, which resulted in beautiful deep-blue skies that frame the white and grey building really well.

The property contains additional annex buildings (such as the maison du pèlerin, pictured above) in addition to a new convent for the local Clarisse Sisters chapter designed by Renzo Piano.

Piano’s building is well integrated in the hill and hardly visible from anywhere, in deference to the master’s chapel. It is nonetheless a very sensible project that is very well executed in typical Piano fashion.

La maison du pèlerin

Au cours de mon dernier séjour en France, j’ai eu l’honneur de visiter la chapelle de Ronchamp par le Corbusier (Wikipedia)

J’y ai pris quelques photos, qui rendent difficilement justice a cet édifice d’exception. Corbu savait concevoir des bâtiments religieux générateur d’expériences spirituelles fabuleuses, accessibles à tous, y compris les personnes non-religieuses. Il est recommandé de visiter ses bâtiments en personne, car la lumière, les espaces ainsi que la matérialité de ses projets difficile a représenter en images.

J’ai pris ces photos un jour d’hiver ensoleillé mais également très froid, ce qui m’a permis de capturer ce ciel très bleu qui encadre la chapelle blanche et grise et contribue a la mettre en valeur.

Les bâtiments annexes (comme la maison du pèlerin, ci-dessus) sont assez peu connus parmi l’oeuvre de Corbu et sont cependant de petits dépendances architecturalement intéressantes, bien que formellement simples et initialement conçues pour abriter le curé ainsi que les pèlerins.

Renzo Piano a récemment conçu un nouveau bâtiment qui s’intègre dans le programme existant. Il s’agit d'un couvent pour les Soeurs Clarisses, ainsi qu’un centre d’accueil et d'exposition (Porterie), qui s’intègre très bien dans la pente et n’est presque pas visible de puis le haut de la colline. Le parti architectural, a la fois discret et efficace, rend hommage a la chapelle du maître sans jamais essayer de lui voler la vedette. La lumière et les matériaux en font un projet typiquement Piano.

Tips for hiring an architectural photographer #4

This is post 4 of a series of 10, in a series detailing important aspects to hiring an architectural photographer while avoiding the most common pitfalls.

COLLABORATE

Photographing buildings and interiors is not an exact science and it requires collaboration between the photographer and client, in order to achieve the client’s vision. Photographers have a particular way to look at spaces, usually different from the clients'. It is a good idea to use this difference in viewpoints as a sounding board for coming up with ideas that neither you, the client, nor the photographer might have thought of on their own. The pre-production meeting and the scouting shoot are great places to brainstorm and kick-start this process. If you are going to be present on the day of the shoot, use this to you advantage by discussing each view with your photographer and formulating your specific needs in the clearest way possible. Your photographer should be able to show you each shot prior to capturing the image to serve as the basis for discussion. 

Yorkville residence, Audax Architecture

Yorkville residence, Audax Architecture

Designholmen home and office by Downey Design

We had the pleasure to return to designholmen to complete our shoot.

Living room


In addition to the kitchen and dining room we shot the living room and the master bedroom. The understated elegance of the project, clearly influenced by designholmen's Swedish roots made the shoot a pleasure as there were many angles from which to capture the design, all of them looking really good. 

Master Bedroom


We hope you enjoy these images as much as we enjoyed shooting the space. 


Junction house by Downey Design

Revelateur is proud to announce the completion of our second project with Downey Design, a detached, single-family house renovation in the Junction.

Second floor hallway leading to staircase

This project, although technically a renovation of an existing house, ended up being a complete gut of the original house and rebuilt practically from the ground up.

Living room, looking out onto the street.

The main objective of the clients was to maximize the spaces with a limited budget, resulting in an increased focus on the quality of the spaces and natural light over materials and finishes.

Kitchen, back of house.

The finished product is a simple, effective and elegant design solution to the limited budget.

Kid's bedroom.

We would like to thank downey design and the gracious owners for letting us come in and shoot their house.

Exterior shots to come soon...