Couvent La Tourette

Architecture in relationship with Music

Christian Lang | Konrad Paulitsch | Studio „Rhapsody House“ at IAM 2015|16

key data:

Architect: Le Courbusier & Iannis Xenakis

Client: Dominican Order of Lyon

Consturction period: 1953 -61

Location: Eveux, Lyon

Sainte Marie de la Tourette is a monastery owned by the Dominican

Order of Lyon. It is a reinforced concrete frame construction faced with

prefabricated segments. The structure is rectangular in shape with an

inscribed courtyard. Three wings are used up by the monastery itself and

the fourth one functions as a church. Initially it was utilized by students,

professors and monks of the Dominican Order. Nowadays it functions as

an educational establishment (Centre Thomas Morus & Albert Le Grand).

Used design tools for La Tourette:

The Modulor

is a system of proportion depending on:

• the human scale • the Fibonacci numbers • the golden ratio

1. Church2. Altar3. Crypta4. Sacrity5. Yard6. Cross circulation7. Atrium8. Chapel9. Refectory10. Pantry

1. entrance2. consulting room3. concierge4. common room laymen5. study laymen6. libary7. oratory8. restrooms9. class A10. class B11. class C12. common hall13. class D14. entrance atrium15. church

1. cells laymen2. restroom3. cell director4. cells newby5. cells monks6. guest room7. surgery8. sick room9. atrium10. cross circulation11. oratory12. church13. sacristy14. crypta

1. story cells2. auditory3. reflectory4. kitchen5. cross circulation

1. story cells2. libary3. cross circulation4. crypta5. crypta6. sacristy7. church

Isometric View of La Tourette:

cell stories

church

sacristy

light cannons

cross circulationoratory

crypta

• The restricted budget did not allow expensive large glass

panes

• to avoid a repeated dull facade Le Corbusier asked Xenakis

to play with the distances between the concrete casings and

give the facade a asymmetrical apperance

• he considered the problem on a more general level by repla-

cing the concept of rhythm by that of density

• he demarcated zones in the facade where a higher or lower

number of casings per length unit would be required

• then he decided how the transition between these two sta-

tes would occur: „fuently or abruptly“

• to this aim Xenakis drew up a table with progressions of rec-

tangles with increasing widths in a golden sections drawn

from the modulor.

• Xenakis created a vertical polyphony in a triple-layererd ar-

rangement

• each layer in the facade has in itself a simple structure

Iannis Xenakis , LeSacrifice (1953)

Iannis Xenakis , table with progessions of rectangles with increasing widths drawn from th modulor

musical compositions by Iannis Xenakis

• „decreasing-increasing” of intervals of the vertical posts is

derived from the composition “Metastassis

• The glissando – the sliding movement within the tonal sca-

le, for instance with a string instrument – is the defining

motif of both the composition and the façade design for

the monastery La Tourette.

• Measurement of the façade division results in definition of

a system consisting of 48 intervals that comprise the in-

creasing-decreasing appearance of the façade

• These intervals can be interpreted as the 1st to 48th factor

of a smallest common interval

• minima and maxima can be identified, meaning points of

largest and lowest density in the façade system, as well as

the distances between them.

graphical translation of the Composition“Metastasis“ by Iannis Xenakis

Ondulatorical glazing on the facade

Ondulatorical glazing at the cross circulation