Sunset Chapel
Jehan Mistry
Sunset Chapel
Jehan Mistry
Architect: BNKR Arquitectura
Year of completion: 2011
Location: Guerrero, Mexico
Sunset Chapel, contrasts between life and death through its material choices and architectural form. The chapel is strategically elevated to offer unobstructed views, particularly aligning with the equinox sunsets. Its design mimics a boulder that blends seamlessly into the surrounding granite landscape. To avoid obstructing the view of the sunset, particularly due to large trees and massive boulder, the chapel was elevated by 5 meters
Structure Study
Axonometric
Section
Mass Diagram
Load Diagram
Documentation Model
Design Process - Light Pavilion
I started my design with the idea of reducing the mass and weight which is present at the lower level of my structure , I started to work on the 4 key learnings from my structure
Shell Structure
Fins
Progression
Landscape
I also started to look as to how can i provide the same quality of light without the fins thats why i started to add these small striations in my roof to bring the same quality of light inside my structure
In my first iteration i started to work with the idea of a shell which blends with the landscape , I started to bring the roof to the ground and provide steps where people from the outside can seat and interact with the structure without having to enter the space
In the second iteration i continued with the idea of a shell blending into the landscape and having steps to sit
In this iteration I bought back the idea of fins and started to imagine the space in between these fins by controlling the depth of it , where people could have interactions , gathering , reading space all in between these fins
Third Iteration:
In the third iteration I felt the earlier iterations didnt have the idea of fins that promineintly so in this iteration I increased the number of fins and oped the south wall for entry , my east wall became the exhibition wall and the west became another entry where the fins are placed at a distance of 0.8m from each other allowing circulation of people into the space
Here I started to rethink the idea of Landscape in my design I thought rather than bringing the whole roof down , which creates a dead space after a point and increases the mass of the structure what if I were to create pockets on the west and the east fasacde this allowed me to reduce the mass of the structure
Final Design:
For my final design i combined all the iterations and also started to work with the spacing of the fins , By controlling the spacing in between the fins ,the fins when place at a distance of 0.3 m and having a thickness of 0.2m created an illusion of a surface from a distance , the reason of this was to reduce the mass present in my earlier structure and create more void space by bringing in more light
on the west fasacde the fins also acts as bookshelves where in between the fins the books are placed and people from the outside can grab it without entering the structure
I distributed my spaces by the height and levels of the structure , all the common areas , exhibition spaces have a larger height meanwhile the intimidate space , transition space and all the group spaces have a lower headroom this create a sense of comfort and relaxation in the space