It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about my travels. Time to dust the cobwebs off this blog! I haven’t stopped travelling. Just got lazy with the blogging. It’s 22:34; time to resurrect this blog.
I visited Helsinki in 2014. I came across this little chapel set in the middle of the city square. There’s something about curvy opaque buildings that arouses one’s curiosity. It is like an alien ship docked at the side of the square. People walking past, oblivious to its existence.
The Kamppi Chapel from outside
It is actually quite big but yet not imposing. The detailing is immaculate with very clean surfaces.
Overlapping-i’m sure there’s a more technical architectural term for this-timber.
That’s how you achieve the elliptical shape. It looks simple but I am sure it is not easy to build.
Let there be Light
The inside of the chapel follows its external form with its layers of timber. Any architect worth his/her grain of salt knows that dramatic lighting is essential in a church building. The architect for this chapel created skylights on the perimeter to give the roof a hovering feel. It is almost as if the spaceship pod could take off anytime. I can imagine the roof suddenly flying off and the mothership sucking all the pewsitters up…to a better place that is.
The Altar
This small altar is well suited to the scale of this church. The candle stick and the flower arrangement flanking the altar helps to enhance the altar. Otherwise the nondescript altar would not command the presence it should. This subtle composition fits in with the overall design. Finnish architecture has an understated elegance about it. I don’t know about the green net hanging on the altar though!
Candlestand
What a beautitful bit of detailing on how the candlestand meets the floor.
Ryoanji candles?
Even the candles have a certain artistic composition. I wonder if someone comes afterwards to make sure the candles are arranged nicely.
Why don’t ALL church pews have these bag hooks?
I think this is one of those design features that look better unused. It’s like saying, “hey you know I have thought about this, that worshippers need somewhere to put their bags so I am going to integrate it into the design. But don’t you think the whole place would look better if you didn’t hang your tattered grocery bag on the hooks. Imagine how untidy the whole chapel would look with the assortment of bags hanging at the back of these pews.” Do all architects have such conversations in their head and they silently judge the person who has destroyed the harmony of the building by their poor fashion sense?
Side door
This is how you deal with functional aspects of a design involving curves. Great detailing here to set the door back with shadowlines to avoid the awkward straight meets curve scenario.
Drop-Dead-Gorgeous-Door-Handle
Saved the best for the last. I LOVE this door handle. It is begging to be caressed. Not many door handles are begging to be caressed. This is a handle that is at ONE with its door. You know like how Eve was made from a rib of Adam’s and when he saw her he said “At last! bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”? That is what this door handle is like.
I have often thought ecclesiastical buildings are such a paradox. The really “successful” church building is often merely an architectural sight. The churches filled with joyful people are often those that meet in a school hall or in a traditional church building. These modern churches are often photographed empty and devoid of human traces. It is as if they are saying to be in communion with God you need to shut out the outside and contemplate in solitude. Hence you step into this pod where you are shut off from the outside and your eyes are drawn towards the sky, where the light is. With the Kamppi Chapel, one can indeed contemplate in silence but if someone else enters the space it feels like an intrusion. I think it is not a space to be enjoyed with others. Maybe when there is a service going on it feels different. Do visit it…for the door handle!
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