Structure studio NOAN has designed a chapel inside a forest overlooking a lake on the Tervajärvi campground in southern Finland.
Set in a forested space by the Tervajärvi lake close to town of Tampere, the chapel was designed to operate as a camp church and as a small venue for weddings and christenings.
NOAN designed the small timber chapel to deal with the view of the adjoining lake, which is framed by a big window.
“The core idea was for a simplified multifunctional house with a gap that frames the distinctive view to the lake,” stated NOAN founding accomplice Lassi Viitanen.
“The view works as an altarpiece for the chapel. The sliding doorways opening mirrors the form of the altar opening and makes the house circulation via and join the inside with the environment,” he advised Dezeen. “The course of the spatial circulation is emphasised by the rooftop ridge opening.”
The construction of the chapel is shaped from a sequence of curved glue-laminated timber (glulam) beams constituted of Finnish spruce.
Seen contained in the chapel, the structural beams kind a sample that recollects the pointed arched types that always run alongside the nave of gothic church buildings.
“The curved glulam beams and inside as an entire had two visible priorities: first it ought to be visually influential, emphasizing pleasure and communality, but additionally afford comfort,” defined Viitanen.
“Second it ought to have a symbolic connection to the context; surrounding forest and lake and to the constructing’s ecclesiastical objective,” he continued.
“These subjective interpretations may very well be for instance the type of fish – a lutheric image, the type of the boat – the lake context or only a delicate curve connecting the inside to the encompassing nature or waves of the lake.”
NOAN aimed to create a multifunctional house that would adapt to the longer-term wants of the campground.
No fastened furnishings was constructed, with native carpenter Puusepänliike Hannes Oy as an alternative creating easy larch stools and a small lectern for the chapel.
“As a substitute of fastened benches chapel stools are moveable and the inside house is versatile and adapts to the altering wants of the longer term,” stated Viitanen.
“As a substitute of making an attempt to prophesy what the church in Finland goes to be after 50 years, we must always design and construct versatile and multifunctional areas.”
The glulam construction was clad in grooved planks of Siberian larch, which had been coated in tar that has been tinted with charcoal to create the blackened exterior end.
The chapel is uninsulated as will probably be largely be used in the summertime months.
Based on NOAN, the venture was largely constructed by volunteers as this was the one option to realise the chapel with the price range.
“As soon as the price range was calculated and the chapel was over the initially deliberate max price range, parish group volunteers stood up and stated that ‘we’re going to construct it by ourselves’,” stated Viitanen.
“The chapel was virtually fully assembled by volunteers. Professionals had been entrusted with the extra demanding particular person phases, with all of the glulam elements, for instance, coming prefabricated from a manufacturing unit,” he continued.
“It didn’t go over the price range.”
Images is by Essi Nisonen.
Challenge credit:
Shopper: Lempäälä Parish
Architect: NOAN
Group: Lassi Viitanen (principal designer), Janne Ekman, Teemu Paasiaho, Ville Reima, Caspar Åkerblom, Essi Nisonen, Jaakko Heikkilä
Structural design: Timo Haavisto, Insinööritoimisto Asko Keronen
Contractor: Building work performed by volunteers