The committee that decided the creation of the building considered that the primary duty of the monastery should be the spiritual awakening of the people and in particular the inhabitants of nearby areas.

In July 2016, the building and sixteen other works by Le Corbusier were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites because of their outstanding testimony to the development of modern architecture.

At the lowest level are the dining room and the peristyle of the temple in the form of a cross, that functions as ramp and leads to the church.

Materials: The structural form of the building is reinforced concrete, with undulating glass surfaces located on three of the four exterior faces, which were designed by Iannis Xenakis.

In order to control the amount of light that enters the large public spaces and the long corridors, vertical wavy glass sheets are used.