Bruder Klaus Field Chapel / Peter Zumthor

Jan 2011

By Megan Sveiven — Filed under: Featured ,Religious Architecture , Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, Germany, Mechernich, Peter Zumthor

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©Samuel Ludwig

“In order to design buildings with a sensuous connection to life, one must think in a way that goes far beyond form and construction.” This quote from Peter Zumthor rings true in his design of Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, where a mystical and thought-proving interior is masked by a very rigid rectangular exterior.

More on Bruder Klaus Field Chapel and Peter Zumthor after the break.

©Samuel Ludwig

Bruder Klaus Field Chapel all began as a sketch, eventually evolving to become a very elegant yet basic landmark in Germany’s natural landscape. The design was constructed by local farmers who wanted to honor their patron saint, Bruder Klaus of the 15th century.

©Samuel Ludwig

Arguably the most interesting aspects of the church are found in the methods of construction, beginning with a wigwam made of 112 tree trunks. Upon completion of the frame, layers of concrete were poured and rammed atop the existing surface, each around 50cm thick. When the concrete of all 24 layers had set, the wooden frame was set on fire, leaving behind a hollowed blackened cavity and charred walls.

The unique roofing surface of the interior is balanced by a floor of frozen molten lead. Gaze is pulled up by way of obvious directionality, to the point where the roof is open to the sky and night stars. This controls the weather of the chapel, as ran and sunlight both penetrate the opening and create an ambience or experience very specific to the time of day and year.

©Samuel Ludwig

On a sunny day, this oculus resembles the flare of a star that can be attributed to a refereence of Brother Klaus’s vision in the womb. The very somber and reflective feelings that become inevitable in one’s encounter with the chapel make it one of the most striking pieces of religious architecture to date. With no plumbing, bathrooms, running water, electricity, and with it’s charred concrete and lead floors, the seemingly uninviting chapel remains an anticipated destination for many.

©Thomas Mayer

“To me, buildings can have a beautiful silence that I associate with attributes such as composure, self-evidence, durability, presence, and integrity, and with warmth and sensuousness as well; a building that is being itself, being a building, not representing anything, just being.”

Recognized around the world for his stunning architecture designs, Peter Zumthor was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2009.

Architect: Peter Zumthor
Location: Mechernich, Germany
Project Year: 2007
Photographs: Samuel Ludwig, Thomas Mayer
References: Peter Zumthor

: ©Samuel Ludwig

: ©Samuel Ludwig

: ©Samuel Ludwig

: ©Samuel Ludwig

: ©Thomas Mayer

: ©Thomas Mayer

: ©Thomas Mayer

: ©Thomas Mayer

: ©Samuel Ludwig

: ©Samuel Ludwig

: ©Samuel Ludwig

: ©Samuel Ludwig

: ©Samuel Ludwig

* Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.

Cite:
Sveiven , Megan . "Bruder Klaus Field Chapel / Peter Zumthor" 26 Jan 2011. ArchDaily. Accessed 23 Feb 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/106352>

Comments (17)
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up_today_arch says:

Special kind of thinking about architecture…

# January 27, 2011 at 01:16

matte says:

wonderful use of material! as zumthor usually does
in my opinion the topic of sustainability shouldn’t be discuss in such a small space!

:) thanks peter :)

# January 27, 2011 at 04:56

godryk says:

This is project has high social and spiritual qualities. Instead of proposing a huge and strange object, an extraterrestial artifact calculated by one hundred Arup engineers, using tons of steel and highly processed components composed by dozens of small pieces coming from China and many other different locations (transported by boat); instead of all that, he lets the farmers be part of their chapel, build it with their own hands and finish it in such a spiritual and magical way.

Think about it, he is a Pritzker winning architect that gives up his “right” to own and build that form and let the farmers to own it.

I’m fed up with all these articles everywhere about huge buildings in China or Dubai, with absurd economical, social and enviromental costs, that start talking about sustainability, about some solar panels that provide some electricity to the stadium and about, oh my god, some openings desgined to let the sun in during wintertime and out during sumertime. Is that more sustainable than this small chapel? Please, fellow architecs, don’t let this cheap talk turn you into mindless sheeps.

# January 27, 2011 at 06:05

jdcarling says:

Perfection

# January 27, 2011 at 10:52

ArchiChavo says:

One of the best buildings of our generation. Zumthor is in another level of thought than all the starchitects out there. His feeling for materiality, site, and space is present in all of his project, regardless of the budget of them. I would like to challenge Zaha or Liebskind to create a great building without spending millions of dollars to do so.
Truly fantastic!

# January 27, 2011 at 12:37

alechs says:

Everything is fine asides the door… it looks really goofy compared to the rest of the building… the building is open air… why need a door that is completely solid?

# January 27, 2011 at 13:17

PatrickLBC says:

This is just a guess…

A big part of the spacial experience seems to come from having the ONLY light source directly overhead. Without a door, there would always be light coming in from the side which would dampen the effect.

Awesome building.

# January 27, 2011 at 19:13

I’m not too hung up on this, this is a nitpick, but…
The issue is not the spatial experience but the stylistic consistency of the chapel. First of all I think a solid door is overkill, a strange architectural deviant, and reads like an oversized commercial storage closet door with its top corners chopped off. Could the door not have been a veil or another material that isn’t rigid, obtrusive, or as a whole simply dated? This criticism comes from a disappointment that an artifact created through the poetics of molding and solidifying that the only element a person directly touches is the most conventional (and strangely so with a strange proportion and single hinge)?

# January 27, 2011 at 20:48

we says:

great chapel.. love it.. btw, the photographs supposed to explain the building, not just playing with the composition. Somehow it doesn’t explain the building at all (no offense mr.Ludwig, just my opinion)

# January 27, 2011 at 21:32

Samuel Ludwig says:

With regards to the photography, (and this is my stance with everything I’ve done in the past year or so). I’m more interested in asking, what are the effects a particular building is capable of producing, through photography. I have no desire to capture or ‘explain’ the building, enough photographers are doing that already. It should be noted, that to understand a building such as this, you have to visit it for yourself.

# March 21, 2011 at 02:47

-1

Bukowsky says:

Comic building !
like a 1960 architecture…

# January 28, 2011 at 01:46

Salvadore says:

is there anything bad about 1960 architecture?

# January 28, 2011 at 09:29

julián says:

I love the chapel as almost everything Zumpthor does… but the door gives me noice… maybe they maid it after?

# January 28, 2011 at 10:02

Scott says:

Very sculptural piece. I like the procession up to the building – something reverent about that through the open field experiencing nature.

This is the antithesis of our society. Nothing flashy about it but when occupied, forces you into silence and abandons our societies constant need for media. Is this intended for a few people or many?

# January 28, 2011 at 10:39

Jesse says:

It’s moving and slightly sad by way of its rarity…we’ve in many ways forgotten/never learned to listen to creation/creator as we build the earth…

# February 9, 2011 at 14:56

thanks, it’s moving and slightly sad by way of its rarity… we’ve in many ways forgotten/never learned to listen to creation/creator as we build the earth…

# February 9, 2011 at 14:57

-3

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