In the 1960s the Architecture Principe group, formed by Claude Parent and Paul Virilio, designed and built the modern ‘bunker’ church for Bernadette of Banlay in Nevers, as an experiment with a new rapport between man and his environment. With a series of texts and hitherto unpublished images this book traces the history and impact of this 20th century masterpiece.
A provocative building, bold expression of the reappropriation of the form of the Atlantic Wall bunkers and a fracturing of the modern plan, breaking with the architectural doxa of the 1960s, the church in Nevers stands out as one of the first post-war critical architectural works. Sainte-Bernadette du Banlay through his historical position, between modern legacy and proclaimed radicalism, as well as through his critical position, which, through the oblique function, anticipated digital exploration of so-called &lcomputational&r architecture.
