A motorway sign symbol of a church was translated directly into the structure of this roadside chapel on the outskirts of Wilnsdorf, Germany, by Frankfurt architects Schneider+Schumacher (+ slideshow).
Photograph by Helen Schiffer
The design for Siegerland Motorway Church was Schneider+Schumacher‘s winning entry to a competition seeking proposals for a chapel to be built on a site overlooking a busy motorway and surrounded by a hotel, petrol station and fast-food restaurant.
The building’s form draws on the visual language of its environs – particularly the standard icon used to depict a church on Germany’s road signs.
This stylised image is visible on two facades on either side of a square nave, which transitions into a long sloping walkway leading to the entrance.
“Whether approached from afar from the Dortmund direction, or from the motorway service area, the church represents a built version of the motorway church signage,” explained architect Michael Schumacher. “Even though its exterior form is abstract, it still signals in an immediate and direct way, ‘I am a church!'”
In a video describing the design process, Schumacher claims the abstract form also suggests other shapes, such as the folded paper of Japanese origami or the pointed ears worn by comic-book character Batman.
The timber structure of the outer walls was assembled from elements produced off site and incorporates laminated timber sections providing extra strength to the roof and towers.
Photography by Helen Schiffer
Following assembly, the whole of the church and the entrance passage were sprayed with a white polyurethane damp-proofing material that unifies the faceted surfaces.
Photograph by Helen Schiffer
Windows on one side of the pointed spire-like towers draw natural light into a nave that features an organic cave-like structure, contrasting with the building’s geometric outer shell.
Photograph by Helen Schiffer
“The interior was meant to come as a surprise, contrary to the expectations raised by the exterior,” said Schumacher. “The exterior is abstract; the interior is warm, friendly, magical and sacred, transporting you to a different world.”
Photograph by Helen Schiffer
A structure made from 66 wooden ribs, developed using parametric computer modelling software, opens up from the entrance to create a high-vaulted dome above the altar.
Photograph by Helen Schiffer
The individual parts required to build the framework were optimally positioned on sheets of chipboard to minimise waste during the cutting process.
The wooden shapes slot together to create a rigid and self-supporting structure, which conceals the sacristy and storage spaces in gaps around its curved edges.
Oriented strand board – a type of engineered chipboard – was used for interior furnishings including simple boxy stools, a lectern and a candle stand.
Daylight from the windows is focused on the altar, podium and cross, which are painted white to give them an ethereal appearance.
Photograph by Helen Schiffer
Artificial lighting is hidden behind the latticed wooden structure and is designed to illuminate the space in the same way as the natural light that filters through the structure.
Madrid studio Adam Bresnick Architects has revived the sixteenth-century interior of a chapel in Spain by reinstating a vaulted ceiling and building a timber-clad box that hovers above the floor.
Located in the small town of Brihuega, the former chapel was redesigned by American-born architect Adam Bresnick for use as a multi-purpose events space that can accommodate different community activities, or function as a wedding venue.
The main intervention is the addition of the new two-storey timber volume, which cantilevers into the space above the entrance lobby to create a modern alternative to the chapel’s former choir box.
The structure only makes contact with one original wall, as the design team didn’t want it to overpower the existing architecture. “The philosophy guiding the intervention was to respect time’s passing,” they said.
Glass balustrades surround the two suspended floors, but the entire volume is also clad with vertical pine slats that define its outline whilst allowing sound and light to pass between.
An original vaulted ceiling above had crumbled away, so was replaced with a matching construction of timber slats.
The chapel’s former nave is the building’s largest space. It sits below a domed ceiling, and is lit by a suspended fixture that mimics the ceiling’s size and circular shape.
On the opposite side of the lobby, a new four-storey structure was inserted to accommodate ancillary functions including toilets, staff areas, a kitchen and an elevator. A staircase also extends back into this space.
A beige marble floor runs through the interior. The team also restored the building’s exterior by repointing the stone walls, repairing tiled eaves and retaining original stone mouldings.
Here’s a project description from the architect:
Restoration and adaptation of a 16th century chapel in Brihuega, Spain
The chapel rehabilitation is for a new typology – a multi-purpose space for events ranging from a formal wedding to the mellow ambiance of a yoga retreat. The reconstruction involved resolving the complex pathologies suffered by the original structure since being abandoned in 1969.
Adam Bresnick Architects studied and restored the existing architecture as well as inserting new uses. The philosophy guiding the intervention was to respect time’s passing. From the exterior the stone facades were repointed, traditional tile eaves restored and stone mouldings left with their worn faults, including the original scarred Serlian entrance. In the interior three distinct areas are articulated, the refurbished dome where the original space is restored, the entrance into the nave is a mix of archaeological remains and new construction cantilevered over the space, minimally touching the original.
The fallen vaults that once covered this space are recalled by a new vaulted ceiling of pine slats. Plaster mouldings cutout over the bare masonry of the original wall also mark the shapes of the original vaults. The last third occupying the old choir area houses all modern uses, from the elevator allowing for handicapped access to all levels, to restrooms, kitchen, staff and storage areas. This four-story structure is inserted within the stone walls, a skylight in the stair accentuating its conceptual separation from the original container.
The materials used are the same as the original; beige marble main floor, white paint on the plaster mouldings, pine slats on the ceiling and to enclose the modern choir that floats within the volume of the nave.
The creation of new uses for historical spaces, and new employment possibilities in the context of rural Spain is an outstanding contribution to European culture. The innovation of the initiative has been recognised by the FADETA (Federación de Asociaciones para el Desarrollo Territorial del Tajo-Tajuña), a local program forming part of European Union FEADER (Fonds Européen Agricole pour le Développement Rural) program. The total construction cost is €852,000, and is privately funded. Nevertheless the quality of the intervention and its novelty has been awarded a subsidy of €200,000 by FADETA.
Principal architect: Adam Bresnick Team architects: Miguel Peña Martínez-Conde & Antonio Romeo Donlo Structural engineers: Juan F. de la Torre Calvo & Ana Fernández-Cuartero Paramio
Archaeologist: Olga Vallespín Gómez Construction coordinator: Joaquín Fernández González Clerk of the works: Federico Vega Ortega Industrial engineering: José de Andres Abad Contractor: José Lucas Hernández Foreman: Alberto Martínez Gamboa
Steel structure: Mariano del Olmo Marble: Incom Pastor Carpentry: Hermanos Esteban Electricity: Tabernero de Andres Circular chandelier: Ecoaneva
News:Le Corbusier‘s Notre Dame du Haut chapel at Ronchamp has been vandalised, prompting calls for urgent security measures to prevent further damage to one of the Modernist architect’s finest works.
One of Le Corbusier’s hand painted windows at Ronchamp, smashed by vandals
President of the Fondation Le Corbusier Antoine Picon spoke out after vandals broke into Le Corbusier’s chapel of Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp, on Friday. He called for the implementation of “emergency [security] measures regarding the site and building”.
The vandals forced entry to the chapel, breaking a hand-painted, glass window signed by Le Corbusier. They then took a concrete collection box, which contained no money, and threw it outside.
The interior of Ronchamp, showing its curved soffit and irregular-sized windows
Picon called on the Association Oeuvre Notre-Dame-du-Haut, which own the chapel, to “better protect the heritage of the twentieth century and that of Le Corbusier in particular.”
He also pointed to the church’s poor structural and cosmetic state, citing in particular “moisture problems, infiltration and poor preservation of masonry.”
Ronchamp was completed in 1955. Le Corbusier designed the chapel for the Catholic church on an existing place of pilgrimage.
Light streams into Le Corbusier’s Ronchamp chapel through windows punctured in thick masonry walls
Its thick masonry walls, irregular window placement and massive curved roof evoke a sculptural quality not previously associated with the sparse functionalism of Corbusier’s earlier buildings. Many critics consider the idiosyncratic chapel Le Corbusier’s finest work.
Italian office Studio Galantini has upgraded the wooden structure of a 1970s chapel in north-west Italy so that it can be used for summer services, music recitals and theatrical performances.
The Cappella Sant’Anna, or Saint Anna’s Chapel, was first built in 1973 in the Italian hamlet of Torre del Lago, but had been out of use since 2010 after parts of the structure were declared unsafe.
In the summer of 2013 Studio Galantini took up the task of repairing the structure. “We were captured by the structural purity and by the formal simplicity of the chapel, qualities that totally integrate it into nature,” explained architect Marco Biondi.
With help from structural engineer Renato Terziani, the architects replaced around half of the building’s framework, which comprises three triangular frames and a series of supporting crossbeams. They also repaired the old steel fixings.
The original moss-covered roof was retained, revealing the building’s true age. “The substitution of the overlay with new elements would have permanently damaged the harmony with the landscape, created by time going by,” said Biondi.
The two ends of the chapel remain open to expose the interior to the elements – a feature of the original design by engineer Vardemaro Barbetta. Barbetta named the chapel Sant’Anna, after the mother of the Virgin Mary, but also after the name of his own mother who initiated the project.
Photography is by Paolo Del Freo.
Here’s some extra information from Studio Galantini:
Galantini’s Firm: Sant’Anna’s Chapel recovery
Galantini’s Firm in Pisa, with the support of Renato Terziani as structural engineer, was involved in the recovery project of the Sant’Anna Chapel. The work was shaped around the full philological and compositional rightness and sensitivity, paying particular attention to the usage of technology and careful intervention techniques.
The chapel arises in the Lagomare residential complex that is located at Torre del Lago, Viareggio’s hamlet (LU). It stands inside the “Parco Naturale di Migliarino San Rossore Massaciuccoli” area, very close to the sea.
The Church, consecrated to Sant’Anna, was built on the engineer Vardemaro Barbetta’s project in 1973, following the engineer’s mother will whose name was Anna. The architectural work is highly characterised by the structural work: three gantries are settled by two balks that statically frame a three hinges portal. The hinges are made of steel and they are placed at the foot and at the top of the structure, resolving the work architecturally and structurally.
Because of the ageing of the wood in 2010 the structure was considered unsafe and declared not accessible, notwithstanding an offhand and structurally decontextualised past recovery action. A support for the balks, made by steel sections and welded batten plates, set up a mixed load-bearing structure.
The recovery work began in April 2013 and finished the 8th of August. The work was designed with no compromises: the technical complexity of the work was accepted to preserve the compositional integrity of the structure and the physics of the materials. The landscaped value of the overlay was preserved too, because of its integration with the surrounding pinewood.
This accomplishment was reached recreating the wooden parts and recovering the mechanical essentiality of the steel hinges. To accomplish that project, the work was realised suspending the structure using a scaffolding specifically designed for that aim; moreover the scaffolding was able to bear the efforts and the load transmitted during the substitution of the ground bases and of the degraded wooden parts.
This elliptical chapel near Oxford by London studio Niall McLaughlin Architects contains a group of arching timber columns behind its textured stone facade (+ slideshow).
The Bishop Edward King Chapel replaces another smaller chapel at the Ripon Theological College campus and accommodates both students of the college and the local nuns of a small religious order.
Niall McLaughlin Architects was asked to create a building that respects the historic architecture of the campus, which includes a nineteenth century college building and vicarage, and also fits comfortably amongst a grove of mature trees.
For the exterior, the architects sourced a sandy-coloured stone, similar to the limestone walls of the existing college, and used small blocks to create a zigzagging texture around the outside of the ellipse. A wooden roof crowns the structure and integrates a row of clerestory windows that bring light across the ceiling.
Inside, the tree-like timber columns form a second layer behind the walls, enclosing the nave of the chapel and creating an ambulatory around the perimeter. Each column comprises at least three branches, which form a latticed canopy overhead.
Niall McLaughlin told Dezeen: “If you get up very early, at sunrise, the horizontal sun casts a maze of moving shadows of branches, leaves, window mullions and structure onto the ceiling. It is like looking up into trees in a wood.”
A projecting window offers a small seating area on one side of the chapel, where McLaughlin says you can “watch the sunlit fields on the other side of the valley”.
Photography is by the architects, apart from where otherwise stated.
Here’s a detailed project description from Niall McLaughlin Architects:
Bishop Edward King Chapel
The client brief sought a new chapel for Ripon Theological College, to serve the two interconnected groups resident on the campus in Oxfordshire, the college community and the nuns of a small religious order, the Sisters of Begbroke. The chapel replaces the existing one, designed by George Edmund Street in the late nineteenth century, which had since proved to be too small for the current needs of the college.
The brief asked for a chapel that would accommodate the range of worshipping needs of the two communities in a collegiate seating arrangement, and would be suitable for both communal gatherings and personal prayer. In addition the brief envisioned a separate space for the Sisters to recite their offices, a spacious sacristy, and the necessary ancillary accommodation. Over and above these outline requirements, the brief set out the clients’ aspirations for the chapel, foremost as ‘a place of personal encounter with the numinous’ that would enable the occupants to think creatively about the relationship between space and liturgy. The client summarised their aspirations for the project with Philip Larkin’s words from his poem Church Going, ‘A serious house on serious earth it is… which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in…’.
On the site is an enormous beech tree on the brow of the hill. Facing away from the beech and the college buildings behind, there is ring of mature trees on high ground overlooking the valley that stretches away towards Garsington. This clearing has its own particular character, full of wind and light and the rustling of leaves.
These strengths of the site also presented significant planning constraints. The college’s existing buildings are of considerable historical importance. G.E. Street was a prominent architect of the Victorian Age and both the main college building and vicarage to its south are Grade II* listed.
The site is designated within the Green Belt in the South Oxfordshire Local Plan and is also visible from a considerable distance across the valley to the west. The immediate vicinity of the site is populated with mature trees and has a Tree Preservation Order applied to a group at the eastern boundary. The design needed to integrate with the character of the panorama and preserve the setting of the college campus and the surrounding trees.
The mediation of these interlocked planning sensitivities required extensive consultation with South Oxfordshire District Council, English Heritage and local residents.
The starting point for this project was the hidden word ‘nave’ at the centre of Seamus Heaney poem Lightenings viii. The word describes the central space of a church, but shares the same origin as ‘navis’, a ship, and can also mean the still centre of a turning wheel. From these words, two architectural images emerged. The first is the hollow in the ground as the meeting place of the community, the still centre. The second is the delicate ship-like timber structure that floats above in the tree canopy, the gathering place for light and sound. We enjoyed the geometry of the ellipse.
To construct an ellipse the stable circle is played against the line, which is about movement back and forth. For us this reflected the idea of exchange between perfect and imperfect at the centre of Christian thought. The movement inherent in the geometry is expressed in the chapel through the perimeter ambulatory. It is possible to walk around the chapel, looking into the brighter space in the centre. The sense of looking into an illuminated clearing goes back to the earliest churches. We made a clearing to gather in the light.
The chapel, seen from the outside, is a single stone enclosure. We have used Clipsham stone which is sympathetic, both in terms of texture and colouration, to the limestone of the existing college. The external walls are of insulated cavity construction, comprising of a curved reinforced blockwork internal leaf and dressed stone outer leaf.
The base of the chapel and the ancillary structures are clad in ashlar stone laid in regular courses. The upper section of the main chapel is dressed in cropped walling stone, laid in a dog-tooth bond to regular courses. The chapel wall is surmounted by a halo of natural stone fins. The fins sit in front of high-performance double glazed units, mounted in concealed metal frames.
Photograph by Denis Gilbert
The roof of the main chapel and the ancillary block are both of warm deck construction. The chapel roof drains to concealed rainwater pipes running through the cavity of the external wall. Where exposed at clerestory level, the rainwater pipes are clad in aluminium sleeves with a bronze anodised finish and recessed into the stone fins. The roof and the internal frame are self-supporting and act independently from the external walls.
A minimal junction between the roof and the walls expresses this. Externally the roof parapet steps back to diminish its presence above the clerestorey; inside the underside of the roof structure rises up to the outer walls to form the shape of a keel, expressing the floating ‘navis’ of Heaney’s poem.
The internal timber structure is constructed of prefabricated Glulam sections with steel fixings and fully concealed steel base plate connections. The Glulam sections are made up of visual grade spruce laminations treated with a two-part stain system, which gives a light white-washed finish.
The structure of roof and columns express the geometrical construction of the ellipse itself, a ferrying between centre and edge with straight lines that reveals the two stable foci at either end, reflected in the collegiate layout below in the twin focus points of altar and lectern. As you move around the chapel there is an unfolding rhythm interplay between the thicket of columns and the simple elliptical walls beyond. The chapel can be understood as a ship in a bottle, the hidden ‘nave’.
RIBA competition won – July 2009 Planning Consent – June 2010 Construction – July 2011 Practical Completion – February 2013 Construction Cost – 2,034,000
A rescued stone colonnade stands amongst planes of concrete at this religious shrine in the Spanish countryside by Pamplona studio Otxotorena Arquitectos (+ slideshow).
Located outside the small village of Alberite, the Shrine of the Virgin of La Antigua stands alone on a hillside, offering wide-stretching views out across the nearby ravine.
Otxotorena Arquitectos designed the structure to accommodate both large parties and individual worship, as the shrine is only likely to attract groups of visitors at certain points on the religious calendar.
A tapered concrete canopy oversails the historic colonnade, which was rescued from near demolition by members of the local community. Concrete supports stand at either end to hold it firmly in place.
“The building volume is conceived considering the idea of framing the archway by building a parallel roof and floor to wrap and protect it,” explain the architects.
A secluded chapel is sheltered beneath the roof at the rear of the structure. Behind this, an irregular framework of concrete louvres shades a length of clerestory glazing and overhangs the end of the building to create a small belfry.
Here’s some more information from Otxotorena Arquitectos:
Shrine of the Virgin of “La Antigua” in Alberite, La Rioja
The site corresponds to a plot on the outskirts of the town of Alberite. This is a 2.000 people village, very close to Logroño in La Rioja, Spain. The place is located on a gentle hill, overlooking a ravine opened into the road running through it. This was a plot of land given to the Parish by the Town Council for the construction of the shrine of the Virgin.
Above: context plan – click for larger image
First of all, the project aims to fulfill all the program requirements, concerning the nature and typical use given to this type of buildings, which, in its immediate environment, serve both for private devotional practices as well as for popular traditional temple fairs. This is a key ingredient in the way of considering the design, since we are obliged to expect a large influx of people within isolated intervals.
Above: location plan – click for larger image
On the other hand, the design also takes into consideration the characteristics of the place in terms of geometric, orientation and topographical measurements. It is also characterized by the appeal and width of its views.
Above: floor plan – click for larger image
Finally, there is added an absolutely fundamental premise: the need to incorporate a preexisting stone archway in the design. This archway was rescued from a previous demolition in the town and it was preserved by the locals. This way, it is intended to re-use the archway and to put more value on it. It was obviously called to assume a main role in the shape and perception of the building from the beginning.
Above: sections – click for larger image
When applying this set of arguments, however, we can remark some of the closely related choices chained to outline the design process:
a) The basic choice of the creation of a relatively wide outdoor space, which provides the interior of the shrine with some anteroom, protects the visitors from sun and rain and frames the view. b) The attention given to the impact the building will cause in the landscape, even noticeable at long distances, that consists on a horizontal gesture correlative to the extent of the slope overlooking the ravine it faces. c) The care given to the relationship between the few spaces created, both external and internal, as well as the hierarchical location of the entrances to the site and confined spaces of the chapel.
Above: sections – click for larger image
The building volume is conceived, in any case, considering the idea of framing the archway by building a parallel roof and floor to wrap and protect it.
Above: elevations – click for larger image
For its construction we are to use a single material, concrete, for immediacy and simplicity reasons, considering its suitable conditions of abstraction, continuity, stability and robustness.
Columns branch outwards like a grove of trees around the aisle of this wedding chapel in Gunma, Japan, by Tokyo architect Hironaka Ogawa (+ slideshow).
The Forest Chapel sits in the garden of an existing wedding centre and Hironaka Ogawa wanted to make a direct reference to the surroundings. “I took the trees in the garden as a design motif and proposed a chapel with randomly placed, tree-shaped columns,” he explains.
The sprawling steel columns are dotted randomly around the interior, creating irregular arches for the bride to walk beneath. “I intended to create various looks by rotating the columns and placing them throughout the space,” adds Ogawa.
Each steel column comprises eight components, which are fixed together in a cross formation.
A length of glazing skirts the outer walls, letting natural light filter in at ankle level. Two tall windows also puncture an angled wall at the back of the building, directing sunlight around the altar.
Wooden pews provide traditional rows of seating for guests.
This is a new chapel built in the garden of an existing wedding facility which is surrounded by trees. The building looks like a simple white box floating in the air to be in harmony with the existing facility. On the other hand, I took the trees in the garden as a design motif and proposed a chapel with randomly placed, tree-shaped columns using angle irons.
In detail, I gathered eight angle irons composed of four 90 x 90 x 7mm L-angle irons and four 75 x 75 x 6mm L-angle irons to create a cross-shaped column. I intended to create a column that branches out up above depicting gentle curves of a tree. I applied two different curves for both size L-angle irons and created two types of tree-shape columns.
I intended to create various looks by rotating the columns and placing them throughout the space. The tree-shaped columns serve as decorations as well as important structural elements that receive the building’s vertical load and wind pressure.
Each tree-shaped column is placed a decent distance from each other by their branched out, angled irons. It is also rational for the building structure.
The forest in nature also consists of trees that keep certain distances from each other under different conditions. The distances and shapes of the columns’ branches made by rigid angle irons creating the silence and tension that is appropriate for a place like a wedding chapel where people make their vows.
Above: site plan
Above: floor plan – click for larger image
Above: section – click for larger image
Above: east and west elevations – click for larger image
Mexican firm Fernando Romero EnterprisE (FREE) has won a competition to design a chapel in Miami with plans modelled on the pleated fabric gown of religious figure the Lady of Guadalupe.
As a Roman Catholic icon of the Virgin Mary, the Lady of Guadalupe is a popular image in Mexican culture and the architects explain how they were invited to design a Catholic Church devoted to her image.
The proposals show a billowing concrete structure with an undulating skirt of 27 clearly defined pleats.
Above: the Lady of Guadalupe and all 27 Latin American virgins – click above for larger image
Inside the building, small sanctuaries will be framed within these pleats, each containing an effigy of one of the other 27 Latin American virgins. ”We preferred to open the proposal to other Latin American cultures as well, having represented all the 27 Latin American virgins,” said the architects.
Above: concept – click above for larger image and key
A twisted tower will provide a spire over the chapel’s altar and will feature a stained-glass skylight decorated with an image of the Lady of Guadalupe.
Above: plan concept – click above for larger image and key
The architects intend this image to project down onto visitors sat in the sunken assembly hall, to “stress the connection with the sky” and “represent the contrast between earth and heaven”.
Above: exploded axonometric diagram – click above for larger image
Additional rooms will be located beneath the seating areas and will include a sacristy, offices and a small library.
Above: sky connection concept – click above for larger image and key
FREE is best-known for the design of the anvil-shaped Museo Soumaya in Mexico, which opened last year.
Above: stack ventilation scheme – click above for larger image and key
Above: roof light section – click above for larger image and key
Here’s some more information from FREE:
Miami Chapel, Florida, USA
Designing a congregation space for the Miami Catholic community requires an understanding of the identity of a multicultural group and the ability to translate it into a representative building.
Above: traditional plan comparison – click above for larger image and key
We were asked to design a Catholic Church devoted to the Mexican Virgin Our Lady of Guadalupe. FREE chose to incorporate other Latin American cultures as well, by representing all 27 Latin American Virgins.
Above: masterplan – click above for larger image
The 27 Virgins are accommodated around Our Lady of Guadalupe’s figure, creating 27 small sanctuaries.
Above: long section – click above for larger image
In a single gesture, the extrusion of this floor plan results in an organic, corrugated form; resembling the pleats of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s cloth.
Above: short section – click above for larger image
The vertical shape stands out of its context, and the volume is rotated towards the corner for more visibility.
Above: car circulation diagram – click above for larger image
A roof light at the top filters natural light into the congregation space, projecting the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the presbytery.
Above: pedestrian and bicycle circulation diagram – click above for larger image
The main entrance distributes to the main congregation space, ambulatory, confessionals and community service area in the level below. At the rear, a reserved area contains the sacristy, preparation and changing rooms, offices, small library and working spaces for the priest and personnel.
Above: structural analysis – click above for larger image
The iconic shape performs an acoustic filter and dramatizes the ecumenical atmosphere of the church, outlining its identity in the metropolitan area of Miami.
Above: facade texture – click above for larger image
A wave-like wooden ceiling undulates above the heads of students at this chapel by architects Gensler in the basement of a Los Angeles university.
Despite being located within the rectangular confines of an old classroom, the chapel has curved walls and not a single corner.
Architect David Herjeczki explains how he was inspired by the thick black outlines of poché-style plans. “The design is conceived as a ‘heavy’ space deliberately set apart from, but fully formed within, the host classroom building,” he said.
Recycled strips of timber were mixed with wood harvested from olive trees around the campus to create the uneven finish of the chapel’s timber ceiling.
“The choice of such recycled wood is consistent with the poor and primitive sensibility of the chapel, but materially it provides a rich contrast to the fundamental nature of the space,” said Herjeczki.
A narrow skylight creates a band of light across the ceiling at one end and illuminated glass blocks create brightly coloured windows in the curved interior walls, but offer no views to the rooms beyond.
A sharply pointed gable rises above the walls of this stone funeral chapel in a small German town by Bayer & Strobel Architekten (+ slideshow).
The triangular profile frames the interior of a double-height funeral hall, which is lit from above by a long narrow skylight.
“To do justice to its significance within the cemetery complex, the funeral is clearly marked with a gabled roof,” said architect Peter Strobel. “This creates an interior that feels dignified and solemn as well as simple and appropriate to its purpose.”
Glass walls allow guests to look out from the hall to two private courtyards, which are enclosed behind the stone facade of the building.
Strobel explained how the walls “block off the cemetery from the street, enclosing it as a place of peace and contemplation.”
Other rooms in the building are arranged in a single block that runs alongside the chapel, providing a series of smaller meeting rooms and waiting areas.
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