Church of Notre-Dame du Sauvoir

The contracting authority is the Diocese of Soissons. The project manager was the architect and town planner André Croizé (Paris), the same person who designed the ZUP.
Construction of the Relais paroissial Notre-Dame du Sauvoir, including the church, took a year, from December 1967 to 22 December 1968. It was blessed by Bishop Bannwarth of Soissons on 12 January 1969.

From the outside, the monument is striking in its urban setting. Inverted, the size relationship between the church and the surrounding settlement breaks with the centuries-old tradition of the church and its bell tower dominating the settlement area. Here, the church seems disproportionately small in the midst of the blocks of flats. Humility is the dominant feature of this church, inviting Christians to pray and come together in the heart of this brand new district. However, its sloping and pointed lines add a touch of originality and liveliness in the midst of buildings that alternate horizontally and vertically without dynamism. The church and the neighbourhood are of opposite design, but harmonise and complement each other to a certain extent.
There are no openings in the walls. The light is evenly diffused inside by the pyramids, which act as ‘light boxes’.

The church's terraces were designed to accommodate topsoil and grass. In addition to its aesthetic and landscaping qualities, the weight of this terrace was also intended to reinforce the stability of the entire building. However, two major problems soon arose: no access was provided for maintaining and mowing the lawn; water retention led to serious problems of dampness and seepage into the concrete slab covering the building. The slab had been poured twice, with a 3-week interruption due to strikes in the middle of May 68, making the structure more sensitive to damp. Masonry and waterproofing work was carried out in March and April 1981: the earth was removed and replaced with gravel; the waterproofing of the terrace was reviewed. The interior paintings of the church were redone in October 1981, and the exterior paintings in 2007.

Dimensions :
> Length = 34 m; Width = 23 m;
> Height = 4.20 m
(14m at the level of the largest pyramid)