It is part of an extensive urban plan developed by an architect for a mining town and named, in contrast to the old Firminy "noir", "Firminy-Vert" in the early 1960s.
It was planned to build three residential buildings Unites d'Habitation, a cultural center, a stadium and a church. As a result, only one "residential unit" was erected, the cultural center was not popular, and the unfinished church looked more like a bunker. The reason for such an incomplete implementation of the project was not only a banal lack of money, but also the death of Le Corbusier himself in 1965.
José Oubrerie, one of the great architect's pupils, did not give up hope for the completion of the Saint-Pierre church. In the early 1990s, he created a fund to raise funds for this venture. In 2003, construction was restarted, which will cost only 7 million euros, 40% of which was allocated by the EU.
The volume of the church consists of two parts - the lower rectangular block of utility rooms (now there will be a branch of the Saint-Etienne Museum of Modern Art) and the cone of the temple itself. The interior space will be illuminated through special "light guns".
The question of authorship remains - technologies have changed over 40 years, and the purpose of the building remains in doubt: the parish has not expressed interest in the new church, and the conduct of services in it remains in question.
Ubreri commented on this: "If the church is considered successful, it will be attributed to the legacy of Le Corbusier. If not, it will be a Take away building."
