Le Corbusier's chapel in Ronchamp

Last summer I had the chance to get away from it all for a week. I stayed in France for a week in a little farmhouse without any television or internet. Wonderful. Before leaving home I found out there was a very significant architectural landmark nearby; The chapel called "Le Notre Dame Du Haut" in Ronchamp, made by le Corbusier. I have a little weakness for architecture and I always loved seeing photographs of this building so now the chance to go and see it was there and luckily my travel companions thought the same about it.
The chapel was the most impressive building I have ever beheld. It moved me. I am far from religious but the serenity and spiritual atmosphere of the chapel was almost touchable and really added to the experience.
But overall it was the shape and the construction of this white concrete structure that did it for me.

This is one of the photos I took at Ronchamp. 
it is actually the most cliché position to photograph the chapel, but it is for a reason. 
This spot actually shows one of the most impressive angles.

In the shop I bought a little photo book about how the chapel was made and about Le Corbusier himself. But I also bought a postcard sized paper model of the building. This I scanned (so I could leave the original intact) and printed out in the same size to make it.
It is not the most accurate model of it, but is is very small and therefore a funny little thing to make. It is a little present for a good friend of mine, who also happens to be an architect.

 more after the jump.

Not all parts of the model fit evenly well. In this scale it already is hard, of course. 
But this model needed some TLC and a little persuasion here and there.

The roof actually was the hardest part. It has a complex curvature 
and needs lots of help to get set in the right position.

Earlier this evening, I gave it to my friend, he really liked it. That's what I made it for.
More surprises later on this month. Next will be more on the Apollo-Verne diorama.