How to build a chapel in honor of a saint without falling into literal reminiscences?
This was the starting point and the biggest challenge of designing a chapel for the first Argentine saint. The most logical solution was, “designing with Brocherian spirit, folowing the values and the intentions of the priest but without falling in morphologic repetitions”.
The new chapel, set within a vineyard in South Africa, is designed by South-African born Coetzee Steyn of London based Steyn Studio. Its serene sculptural form emulates the silhouette of surrounding mountain ranges, paying tribute to the historic Cape Dutch gables dotting the rural landscapes of the Western Cape. Constructed from a slim concrete cast shell, the roof supports itself as each undulation dramatically falls to meet the ground. Where each wave of the roof structure rises to a peak, expanses of glazing adjoined centrally by a crucifix adorn the façade.
The project of Quartéis de Santa Justa is located at the highest point of Monte de Santa Justa, in Ponte de Lima (Portugal) and have, besides the chapel, a structure that served as a shelter for pilgrims.
The project was to renovate and extend the University’s Victorian Chapel. Originally built in 1880, and then extended in 1927, the Chapel is used for a number of different events and purposes: services, group meetings, concerts and as a place of quiet contemplation.
In 2015 the University commissioned Design Engine Architects to oversee a complete restoration of its internal and external fabric. In addition, the University asked for an extension to the chapel, to include a small side chapel and a social and meeting space. The brief was to create a very special project, to sit as a small ‘jewel’ in the heart of the campus.
For years, the neighbors of the fishermen village of El Pris had tried to promote the construction of a proper temple, under the vocation of the Virgen del Carmen (Our Lady of Mount Carmel) who is patroness of the sailors. Despite designating for it several different locations, this construction for various reasons was not possible. The image of the Virgin, for which the neighbors are strongly devoted, was stored in a warehouse belonging to a fishermen association, waiting to be placed in a sacred space.
The chapel bears no resemblance to others in the locality, yet has a deep rooted connection to its location. The building with natural stone textures blends well with the surrounding vegetation and complements the hill slope on which it abuts. The natural stone backdrop provides a divine setting, bathed in natural light, to the prayer hall. Other than the flat portion of the site where the old demolished chapel was sited, the rest of the area including the hill slope and the hill top beyond was replete with wild vegetation and teak trees that has been left more or less undisturbed. The chapel has been built in the most environment friendly manner.
Nestled at the old industrial district of Section 13, Petaling Jaya, Glad Tidings Vision Centre (GTVC) is a visual respite from its dour surroundings. It is strategically located amidst established and flourishing neighbourhoods, which are predominantly residential.
Brief
The brief called for a revamp and upgrade of the old church facilities due to the growing congregation. The new building comprises a Multipurpose Hall, a garden chapel (for wedding, water baptism, prayer and meditation, and outdoor functions), prayer halls, prayer chapel, function rooms for meetings and seminars, and car parking facilities.
The Suvela chapel was commissioned by the Espoo Parish Union and it will be used jointly by the Espoo Parish Union, the Swedish Parish of Espoo and the City of Espoo to serve the entire community of Suvela. It is a multifunctional building that offers a space for the people of the community to use together for their many different needs regardless of their religious affiliation.
OOPEAA embarked on the design and planning for the Suvela Chapel and the nearby community park in 2012. The goal was to create a building that has a strong identity of its own while also entering in dialogue with the multicultural context of its suburban neighborhood.
The object, the chapel, is a handmade wooden box construction inside a huge18th century stone building, the Seminary of St. Tiago, in the center of Braga, Portugal. Into the renovated two levels space that encloses the Chapel comes some daylight that is very controlled and delicately used by the architects. The space around the chapel is quite dark, so the object appears transparent. The natural light is filtered through its walls, made by thin, horizontal, wooden bars, and gives the architectural body a luminous appearance.
Los Nogales School’s Chapel, is conceived based on human life’s dualities. A pure and elemental prism represents the pureness, the essential and the harmony. The various volumes and cracks that this prism suffers represent the spiritual sense in human lives, therefore harmony’s alterations. The prism order is juxtaposed with these alterations that generate light cracks on the elevations, allusion to hope and opportunity in a life of darkness. The dimness take place, as a place for quietness and prayer; the search for the interior self. Dualism also happens when the chapel opens itself to gather a major number of assistants; the lineal traditional axis of the interior becomes the transverse one, altar changes to chorus, and Christian traditional symbolism suffer a metamorphosis just by opening two huge doors facing a wide public space. This changes the chapel dramatically, from one that can gather 100 assistants to another capable for almost 2000, distorting the scale of the building itself, and making invisible the edge between interior and exterior. In fact the site’s composition is the result of a detailed study, composed by the chapel’s prism and the loose belfry element, which works as a symbolic landmark. The ochre concrete and the natural wood reflect brightness and nobility, mixed with texture and grain, surround by the tranquility of the subtle water pond and the trees.
email
Facebook
Twitter
RSS Feed
