NOTRE-DAME DU LAUS
SANCTUARY
SAINT-ETIENNE-LE-LAUS
FRANCE, 2012
CULTURE
PR–443
The sanctuary is a “landscape within a landscape”: a large hollow carved into the mountain floor creates an open-air cavity.
GALLERY
021
PROGRAM
The place of worship and gathering for pilgrims allows for religious and cultural events to be held in an open-air church that can accommodate up to 5,000 worshippers, a sheltered peristyle, and a crypt built under the forecourt of the existing basilica, with a capacity of 600 seats. The site’s master plan, organized like an abbey, includes a complementary program comprising a new reception area, a museum, a shop, and public spaces, as well as a hotel and conference center with meeting rooms and auditoriums.
DETAIL
Situation
05130 Saint-Étienne-le-Laus, France
Year
2012
Status
Contest
Site area
3,2 ha
Built-up area
9 700 m²
Built-up volume
39 000 m³
Project management
Diocese of Gap and Embrun, Gap
Project implementation
Dominique Perrault Architecte
Interior architect and design
Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévost
Design offices
Espace-temps, Tractebel, RPO, Avel Acoustique
DESCRIPTION
At its heart, the cross-shaped church unfolds like a bas-relief with its benches and aisles carved into the thick rock. On the outskirts of this place of worship, open to the sky and symbolically connected to the sun and stars, there is a peristyle that offers pilgrims privacy and protection from the elements. This new topography creates a natural link between the house of Saint Benoîte Rencurel and the existing Basilica of Notre-Dame du Laus. This delicately integrated project, where the architecture recedes to preserve the original landscape, reveals its full intensity from the peaks of the Hautes-Alpes mountains.
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