Det­ta­glio del pro­get­to ed. 2020

MAROUN LAHOUD – SAINT ELIE CHURCH

Desi­gner	Maroun Lahoud
Loca­tion	Brih Chouf Lebanon
Desi­gn Team	Maroun Lahoud Salam Geha Dany Ajouz
Anno	2016
Pho­to credits	Maroun Lahoud

Foto ester­ni

Descri­zio­ne del progetto

St-Elie pro­ject is loca­ted in Mtai­le Brih, mea­ning pano­ra­mic in Ara­bic, 50km from Bei­rut, a region cha­rac­te­ri­zed by its ter­ra­ced topo­gra­phy and vege­ta­tion abun­dan­ce. It is also a region with a hea­vy histo­ri­cal heri­ta­ge, which led to vio­lent cla­shes during the civil war bet­ween 1975 and 1990, resul­ting in the near-total destruc­tion of hou­ses, pla­ces of wor­ship and the displa­ce­ment of vil­la­gers. St-Elie is the fir­st pro­ject sym­bo­li­zing the recon­ci­lia­tion in the region.
The pro­ject aro­se with the will to gather by cele­bra­ting the ele­men­ts of natu­re. It com­pri­ses the church and its squa­re, all dres­sed in whi­te, solemn­ly set­ting on a dry sto­ne wal­led base, that remo­dels the topo­gra­phy of the hill­si­de to hou­se the mul­ti­pur­po­se hall and its annexes.

Radiant with its whi­te bush ham­me­red sto­ne clad­ding, the church inspi­res renewal. Its aspect embo­dies the cha­rac­te­ri­stics of the Maro­ni­te Church: pure mas­sing and flat roof. With a squa­re base of 17x17m, St-Elie can gather up to 250 peo­ple. The sacri­sty and the con­fes­sio­nal are loca­ted at the back to clear as much as pos­si­ble the altar.
The posi­tio­ning of the sto­nes ran­ging from 25 to 45cm in height and dispo­sed in a ran­dom man­ner uni­fies the enve­lo­pe. With the same gestu­re, the bell tower was erec­ted to crea­te the entran­ce of the church; the thic­k­ness of this entran­ce fil­ters the pas­sa­ge from the pro­fa­ne world to the sacred world. 

From the entran­ce we are dra­wn to an impo­sing slit that dra­ws a cross; orien­ted north, it avoids any unwan­ted bac­klighting effect during mass. In this natu­ral light box, whi­te walls seem to dif­fu­se light, the Car­ra­ra mar­ble floo­ring, with its mil­ky, pro­found and living appea­ran­ce, reflec­ting it in turn.
The inte­rior is craf­ted and hie­rar­chi­zed by indi­rect lighting sche­mes that defi­ne its spi­ri­tual dimen­sion: zeni­thal lighting abo­ve the altar, sacri­sty and con­fes­sio­nal, parie­tal along the late­ral cir­cu­la­tions, and discreet at the back.
The litur­gi­cal codes are expres­sed by the num­ber of ope­nings. Three light niches along the late­ral cir­cu­la­tions refer to the Tri­ni­ty; dispo­sed on both sides, with two ope­nings each, they tota­li­ze to 12 ope­nings, refer­ring to the way of the cross.

A new page is writ­ten, howe­ver it is roo­ted in the con­text by the use of local stones.
The vil­la­gers hel­ped build the base by brin­ging what was left from their demo­li­shed hou­ses and chur­ches; the rest extrac­ted from the site by local artisans.

The 500 m² mul­ti­pur­po­se hall is natu­ral­ly lit by five lar­ge bays, ope­ning to the cour­tyards and the land­sca­pe, and is ser­ved by seve­ral anne­xes gli­ding in the inter­sti­ces of the structure.
Due to its loca­tion and the con­tra­st of its mate­rials, the pro­ject tends to crea­te a new focal point in the Shouf’s val­ley of Gold and wri­tes a new page in the histo­ry of Mount Leba­non by hono­ring its heritage.

Rela­zio­ne illu­stra­ti­va del progetto
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Foto inter­ni

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