In the office, we call this project of the Swiss Chapel, however, it was draw to the sound of Leonard Cohen, so we could also call Cohen Chapel.

"I would like to drawing a chapel here."

And I never stopped drawing the building, even though I did not have a client, and knowing that it could not be more than a exercise. To tell the truth, I was only able to stop when the project was ready. Just like when you start reading a book and you can not stop reading until the end.

Now that the design of the building are ready, we are establishing contacts so it can be built.

The chapel is a space that shows the dichotomy between the human and the divine, but it is also a space that any agnostic people can look for to have a introspection moment, or simply to think away from the “noise” of life.

The building has two moments, the central nave more closed with a form that evokes the entrance of light, with what all this could mean. And an annex space for support of the priest responsible for the chapel, completely open to the landscape.

The project was designed for Vitznau and has been in the drawer waiting for the best contacts that will allow me to build it. I'm not in a hurry about this situation. The project is done, and if will not be built, it will return to the drawer, where it is now, and it will remain. Actually I do not have the best contacts in Vitznau for that project, but I still want to build it there.

A Chapel that integrates the landscape, becoming part of it. The search of the 'light' is the concept behind the volume form. The interior space of the chapel it was created to be closed for the landscape, becoming it as an introspection space. In opposite, the sacristy opens up to the landscape.

“There is a crack in everything that´s how the light gets in” Cohen

Team:
Author: Joaquim Portela
Colaborators: Filipa Roque
Photo credits: Metro Cúbico Digital

Material Used:
1. Facade cladding: Concrete
2. Flooring: Wood, Marble
3. Doors: Wood
4. Windows: Wood and Glass
5. Roofing: Concrete
6. Interior lighting: Joaquim Portela Arquitetos, Table lamp by Arne Jacobsen
7. Interior furniture: Artek, Joaquim Portela Arquitetos, PP Mobler