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Arch2O.com - Architecture & Design Magazine
The Nanjing Wanjing Garden Chapel a 200 square meter small chapel, is located in Wanjing Garden along Nanjing?s Riverfront. Hosted by priests from Nanjing Union Theological Seminary, it supports religious activities like worship and wedding services. This wood and steel structured chapel has gentle exterior shape as well as strong interior space infused with mysterious religious power. Its plain material doesn?t fail in expressing the delicate construction logic.
Courtesy of AZL Architects – Photographs : Yao Li
The earliest and fundamental church space has two interrelated tendencies- Center and depth. Both the centrality from the Pantheon and the deep axis of the Basilica was inherited in the early Christian Architecture. The central and axial symmetry of church space became less prominent during the Modernism period, which was closely related to the Protectants? rejection of Catholic Hierarchy. Courtesy of AZL Architects – Photographs : Yao Li
In the design of Wanjing Garden Chapel, the architect didn?t purposefully reject the ?centrality? and ?depth? of classical space sequence. In plan, it has an octagonal central hall surrounded by square shaped corridors. In section, the use of roof profile and the long slit of skylight amplify the depth of space and emphasize on the high point over the sacred space where all axis meet.
Courtesy of AZL Architects – Plan
The wooden corridor forms a unique d...