Lyon is a two-hour train ride south of Paris, located in the Rhône Alps region of France. This city itself lies between the Rhône and Saône rivers, which allowed the city to prosper during its early founding period as the capital of Roman Gaul, Lugdunum. The remains of this ancient city still exist and are a great excursion as is the city’s main modern attraction, the Lyon Opera House. More recently, Lyon has become famous for its food after local chefs like Paul Bocuse helped to redefine French cooking through Nouvelle Cuisine – a style of cooking that deviates from the traditional heavy and rich French food by utilizing lighter sauces and healthier ingredients.

Today, I visited the Lyon Opera House in the morning and then took an hour-long train to Firminy after lunch to explore a large Le Corbusier site. The Opera House is an interesting building because it was originally built in 1830 by architects Chenavard and Pollet but was later renovated by Jean Nouvel in 1993. The four façades and the foyer are all that remain of the original structure while Nouvel’s renovation encompasses the rest of the Opera House (which now includes a total 18-levels that are mostly underground). Unfortunately, the Opera house is only open to visitors on Saturdays and Fridays at 1 p.m. and, since today is Monday, I was unable to go inside. From the outside, very little of Opera House appears to have a modern design except for the steel and glass curved roof that protrudes far above the older façades. Like I.M. Pei’s Pyramid in the Louvre, this roof reveals the modern renovation without destroying the building’s historical exterior design. This unification between modern and traditional architecture once again exemplifies the blending of architectural styles that I saw throughout Paris, proving that modern design can be applied to other traditional architectural forms. It was even Jean Nouvel’s hope to achieve this sense of unity in the Lyon Opera House, stating he strove to establish a “dialogue between history and modernity”. As I glanced through the windows, I realized that this “dialogue” is also apparent inside. While the new entry is quite modern and incorporates ramps, black curved walls, glass and steel into the design, the original foyer (which is the entry into the actual theater) is decorated with crystal chandeliers and Napoleon III style architecture. While these two contrasting styles are not completely unified, they do manage to coexist. The Lyon Opera House is the most shocking synthesis I have seen between modern and traditional architecture because the two styles are forced together without any sense of separation, seeming as though the building’s modern forms are growing out of the older architectural features. For any modern-seeking traveler, I highly recommend this site in order to see a unique adaptation of modern architecture that, unlike other structures I have seen on this trip, is governed by an older style of design.

After a great Lyonnais lunch, I headed over to station Lyon Part-Dieu and departed via train for Firminy, a town south west of Lyon. Before I continue, there are two important things to mention to any traveler going to these French suburbs: first, train ticket prices ared greatly reduced if you are under the age of twenty-five or have a student I.D. (also true for most museums) and, second, most suburbs do not have taxi services, so you must either take a bus or ask for directions and walk. Since most of these sites are significant tourist attractions, there are many signs to lead you in the right direction but I have found the help of a local is always appreciated. Anyway, today the bus service was not working so I ended up walking three kilometers to the Le Corbusier site through the torrential rain showers that previously had been flooding southern Britain. Fortunately, the sun broke through the clouds just minutes before I arrived on site, giving me time to dry off before I stepped into the first structure on the grounds, Saint Pierre Church. I was then told to walk up a hill to another building to get my entry ticket where I finally began my visit. The Firminy Le Corbusier site is the largest urban Le Corbusier site in Europe, containing a stadium, cultural center, housing unit and a church. However, the cultural center (Maison de la Culture) is the only structure on site not to be completed posthumously, since it was finished in 1965 just months before Le Corbusier’s death. Yet, the Firminy site did receive recognition before Le Corbusier died, winning the Grand Prix de l’Urbanisme in 1961. It was not until the late sixties that the stadium and housing unit were completed, while the church was recently finished in 2006 after beginning construction in 2002. All the structures on site are constructed with concrete and reflect Le Corbusier’s later style of architecture that I find to be more heavy and prominent than his early works such as Villa Savoye and Villa La Roche.




The cultural center, for instance, acquires its imposing appearance from its long, horizontal layout and extensive use of Mondrian style windows that lessen the glass' transparency. This architectural effect is also repeated in the stadium, housing unit and church to create a series of unforgiving architectural forms that seem to control and shape the landscape. You, the viewer, first notice the building’s dominance over the land in the cultural center, where a massive slanted wall protruding over a cliff seems to undermine the limitations of the landscape. As your eye moves down to the stadium, you cannot avoid noticing how the concrete wall sheltering the track scoops out the surrounding land into large berms, once again reflecting the complex’s impact on the land. And then, lastly, the church rise above the horizon to carry your attention to the housing unit situated in the background. This layering of architecture in the landscape creates depth and order in Le Corbusier’s design, though the buildings themselves appear to be follies (a term Philip Johnson used to describe a few of his structures) that burst from the hillside. As a result, there is an apparent contrast in the Firminy site between the obtrusive individual structures and the unity of overall layout.

In this sense, these buildings’ characteristics signify a drastic change in Le Corbusier’s style. However, there are some unifying features between these newer structures and those completed around the turn of the century by Le Corbusier. While none of these later buildings has the five points of architecture, they do frequently incorporate Le Corbusier’s signature highlights of color into their designs. Located either in window frames or walls, these accents of bright, vibrant colors (usually, red, green or yellow) add warmth to the harsh, concrete exteriors and interiors and also help Le Corbusier play with light. This is most apparent in Saint Pierre Church, where Le Corbusier punctures the side of the walls with painted concrete tunnels to bring light and color into the interior spaces. Consequently, the concrete becomes warmer and less austere as colors radiate on the ceilings, walls and floors.

All in all, the Firminy site is a fantastic place to see examples of Le Corbusier’s later work. Only an hour away from Nouvel’s Lyon Opera House, this destination reflects the shocking transformation of modern architecture between the turn of the century and the 1960’s.

-Ian
Philip Johnson Glass House Intern