location
Narinkkatori square, Helsinki, Finland
client
Helsinki Parish Union
Building area
300 m2
status
Completed in 2012
awards
The Chicago Athenaeum’s International Architecture Award 2010, Finnish Wood Award honorary mention 2012, Rakentamisen Ruusu honorary mention 2012
Photographs
Tuomas Uusheimo
The Chapel offers an opportunity to enjoy a peaceful moment in the middle of perhaps the busiest spot in Finland. The chapel is a place for everybody, regardless of their religion. The cocoon-like wooden shape of the interior of the Chapel embraces visitors and gives them a sense of safety. The chapel hall is dedicated to silence, but you will always find someone to talk to in the foyer – a priest or a social worker. The chapel, opened in 2012, is one of the best-known new buildings in Finland and has been featured in over 150 media outlets from the Guardian to Wallpaper.
The programme of the chapel is divided into two parts: the free-form sacral space and the horizontal secondary spaces
Concrete cast in-situ is the lobby’s dominant material. There is a deliberate material contrast between the chapel and ancillary
There are as few objects in the chapel as possible.
The atmosphere in the chapel’s interior changes in une with the time of day and the season. The matte white oval ceiling is convex, to improve the chapel’s acoustics
The Greek cross is the most democratic of all Christian symbols. The cast bronze cross will darken as it ages
A silver bowl is used for baptisms
