Speaking of Le Corbusier, almost forty years after his death, construction nears completion on one of his final designs, the Saint Pierre Church in Firminy.
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A LE CORBUSIER BUILDING BELATEDLY NEARS COMPLETION

One of the last buildings designed by Le Corbusier is finally being completed. As Le Monde's Grégoire Allix reports, the Saint-Pierre Church in Firminy, France will be finished by February 2006, almost forty years after the architect's death. The church first commissioned the building in 1960 as part of a larger project for Firminy, a city located in the Loire region. Le Corbusier designed a four-level concrete structure, topped by a monumental cone, but he died in August 1965, before construction began. Between 1973 and 1977, locals—in collaboration with the association Friends of Le Corbusier—found the funds to construct the church's base. But construction came to a halt in 1978, since the cone proved too costly. "This contemporary ruin was . . . classified as a historical monument in 1996," writes Allix.

A recently elected municipal government—and a state subvention—allowed construction to resume in 2003. Allix notes that religiosity has waned over the years within the community. While welcoming a dwindling group of churchgoers, the building will also house a branch of the Musée d'Art Moderne de Saint-Etienne and a Le Corbusier study center. Along with the building's function, its status as an authentic Le Corbusier may face revision. Fondation Le Corbusier, which controls the architect's estate, is reticent about recognizing changes that were introduced by the Franco-American architect José Oubrerie, who collaborated with Le Corbusier on the original plan and oversaw the most recent construction phases. "We were eager to see the completion of the church, so we approved the changes in its use," a spokesman for the foundation told Le Monde. "But we are very careful about [recognizing] architectural modifications." The foundation may question whether the completed structure can actually be credited to the legendary architect. But for the residents of Firminy, the Saint-Pierre Church will be what it has always been: a design signed by Le Corbusier.

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