Matt Gibberd, one of the founding directors of The Modern House, has named Le Corbusier’s chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp as his favourite building.

Completed in 1955, the chapel was designed to replaced a previous structure destroyed in the Second World War. Though made of concrete, it marked a significant shift in style for Le Corbusier.

Matt says:

‘My wife and I visited Ronchamp on a cold autumn afternoon, and we had the whole place to ourselves. You don’t need to be religious to recognise the spiritual power of a building like this. Le Corbusier is the master of manipulating natural light, and at Ronchamp big shafts puncture the thick walls and cast speckled patterns. We must have spent two hours inside the chapel, and by the time we came out it was shrouded in mist from the valley below.’