Arquitectura e interiorismo: Eduardo Souto de Moura

Source: Vatican Chapels presskit
Photography:
1,2,3,11: Alessandra Chemollo
the rest: HIC team
construction pictures: vatican chapels presskit

no, it is not…
…no, it is not a chapel, not
a sanctuary and in any case not
a tomb. It is simply a place
enclosed by four stone walls,
while another stone at the
center might be the altar. The
entrance is screened by a tree
we want to conserve. The walls,
inside, have a ledge on which we
can sit and wait… waiting with
our feet on the ground, head in
hands. “Things themselves know
when they ought to happen.”
(David Mourão-Ferreira)

Study sketches for the first version of the project.

Study models of the first version of the project.
This version differs from the final result essentially due to the fact that it incorporates an existing tree at the entrance.

Preliminary study sketches.

Study sketches for the final project, showing two different solutions for the making of the partial roof of the chapel and the shift of the footprint with respect to the location of the tree near the entrance.

Sketches for study of the dimensioning of the Vicenza stone blocks used to form the walls of the chapel.

Studies for the definition of the form of the Vicenza stone blocks for the walls of the chapel.

Studies of lighting effects inside the chapel.

View of the Cengelle quarry in the Berici Hills, owned by Laboratorio Morseletto, at the moment of removal of the Vicenza stone blocks used to build the chapel.
View of a stone block during the cutting operation at Laboratorio Morseletto, Vicenza.

Blocks of Vicenza stone cut with the toothed joint at Laboratorio Morseletto, Vicenza.

The assigned area for the construction of the chapel on the island of San Giorgio, with positioning of the wooden posts utilized to anchor the stone blocks.

Transport from Marghera to the island of San Giorgio of the heavy vehicles with the blocks of stone positioned on the flatbeds, with the equipment of the transport firm Boscolo Bielo Ivano.