Though the world's architectural icons—even the lesser known ones—are deeply beloved by design professionals and design fans alike, they aren't necessarily sacred. Not so for Le Corbusier's 1954 Notre Dame du Haut, which is in fact a house of the holy.
So Belgian artist Xavier Delory's Photoshopped images of the chapel in Ronchamp, France, covered in graffiti, while triggering for some, have a subversive appeal. In a series of five photos titled "A Pilgrimage to Modernity," Delory explores the the interplay of vibrant swoops, shapes, and color fields and the curvaceous architecture of Corbu's design.
The murals themselves are a nod at the ones Corbusier once painted on the walls of Irish architect Eileen Gray's masterful villa, E.1027, which some decried as mere graffiti despite their prestigious provenance.
It's all a fun thought experiment, made possible thanks to modern technology. Take a look.
∙ Le Corbusier's Ronchamp chapel reimagined with the architect's own graffiti [Dezeen]
∙ A House is a Machine for Memory: An Oral History of the Restoration of Eileen Gray's E.1027 [Curbed]
∙ All Photography coverage [Curbed]