Briefed as “an outdoor chapel, protected from obvious elements but having no walls, no windows, no roof and allowing the clearing to be its only visual and physical envelop. Affordable and yet luxurious and most importantly picturesque for memory creation”.

The challenge was heavy and the solution light in every aspect of the project: the design, the construction technology, the budget and the visual presence.

“The Chapel of Grace in the Clearing” is a two-framed structured commissioned as an extension of a wedding venue where the owner wanted to add a strong differentiation strategy to beat the competition by bringing the church to their venue cutting cost and time and eliminating travels to wedding functions allowing clients to organize everything at the same venue.

The concrete floor is tiled with marble and framed by a marble “cross wall”, a subtle reminder of the holiness of the floor. These basic elements are metallically framed dually with the inner frame wrapped in a metal mesh and garnished with tropical climbing plants as a natural refresher and solar manipulator. The mesh offers sideways directional entry and exit without doors. The outer frame is capped by translucent corrugated sheet to allow in as much sunlight as possible by keeping the water out.

Inside the light and picturesque chapel, the tree line of the clearing, which is the site, still remains the only natural enclosure of the venue.