ArchShowcase Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. ANA CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL HIROSHIMA CHAPEL in Japan by NIKKEN SPACE DESIGN LTDJune 17th, 2015 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: NIKKEN SPACE DESIGN LTD A wondrous, sun-dappled chapel Concept of total excellence
Hiroshima is one of the most popular destinations for overseas tourists to Japan. For this reason, in planning the chapel, we were highly conscious of that fact that we were not simply designing a commercial facility but a space that would let the rest of the world know about Japan’s spirituality, traditional arts and crafts, and its refined workmanship. A challenging design A large tree is the motif of the wooden panel design, called the Power of Flower, which carries the theme of ancestral roots and the prosperity of future generations. Through collaboration with a kimono designer, we were able to associate the various flowers and plants in the design with these concepts by using traditional patterns found in Japanese kimonos. Each wooden panel unit of the chapel measures 2m×1m, and 100 units were used. The 15mm-thick Japanese cypress panels were intricately carved by hand to show the cutwork pattern. Such meticulous labor has made this a wooden dome chapel of an unprecedented scale even within Japan. Lighting filtering through the dome’s wooden cutwork casts shadows on the aisle of the chapel like sunlight through the trees, creating an illusion that the couple are being blessed in a sun-dappled forest. Contact NIKKEN SPACE DESIGN LTD
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