Detail of the project ed. 2024

capil­la-clin­i­­ca-ale­m­ana-osorno / Chile

Design­er Rodri­go Araya Manzanares
Loca­tion Zen­teno 1530, 5290000, Osorno, Los Lagos, Chile
Nation Chile
Design Team

Rodri­go Araya
Felipe Sandoval
Car­oli­na Cárdenas
Year 2023
Pho­to credits

CAO_EXT01 / Nicolás Saieh
CAO_EXT02 / Nicolás Saieh
CAO_EXT03 / Nicolás Saieh
CAO_EXT04 / Nicolás Saieh
CAO_EXT05 / Nicolás Saieh
CAO_INT01 / Nicolás Saieh
CAO_INT02 / Nicolás Saieh
CAO_INT03 / Rodri­go Araya
CAO_INT01 / Rodri­go Araya
CAO_INT01 / Nicolás Saieh

Pho­to external

Project descrip­tion

Project Descrip­tion

The assign­ment con­sists of the con­struc­tion of a place of wor­ship for the Cor­po­ración de Benef­i­cen­cia de Osorno (Clíni­ca Ale­m­ana Osorno). This insti­tu­tion was cre­at­ed in the mid­dle of the 20th cen­tu­ry by cit­i­zens most­ly of Ger­man descent and with the active sup­port of the Luther­an Church. Thus, the cre­ation of a new Luther­an Tem­ple, a place of prayer and reflec­tion for the clin­ic’s facil­i­ties, but of an ecu­meni­cal nature, becomes important.

The project is locat­ed in one of the inner court­yards of the clin­ic, in order to con­sti­tute “a nucle­us” in the emp­ty space between the exist­ing facilities.

As there are no major typo­log­i­cal ref­er­ences of Luther­an tem­ples, the project is intend­ed as a sim­ple and aus­tere con­cept that revives pre­dom­i­nant typolo­gies of this part of south­ern Chile. Seeks the use of wood as a main mate­r­i­al, both in its struc­ture and its coat­ings, a mate­r­i­al present in the col­lec­tive uncon­scious, which through its warmth enhances the expe­ri­ence of reflec­tion and recollection.

The project is devel­oped in only 55 m² with a rec­tan­gu­lar floor plan that is “trun­cat­ed” in the mid­dle of its length, in order to empha­size the space towards the altar, while the shoul­ders rise increas­ing the sense of height on the altar, decreas­ing the width of the aisle. The altar and the cross are framed by the only open­ing of the project with the gar­den in the back­ground, being the only entrance of light to the place of worship.

The rel­e­vance of wood in the design lies in the fact that it is the “unique ele­ment” of the archi­tec­tur­al pro­pos­al, from its struc­ture to its cladding. The struc­ture, being exposed in its entire­ty to the inte­ri­or of the chapel, is part of the archi­tec­tur­al expres­sion of the build­ing, while in its role as cladding it pro­vides a warm atmos­phere and on the out­side the wood blends in with its nat­ur­al surroundings.

The project includes a struc­tur­al solu­tion based on engi­neered lam­i­nat­ed wood. Due to its loca­tion in an inte­ri­or court­yard, with no access for trucks or machin­ery, both the entry and assem­bly of the mate­ri­als was com­plete­ly man­u­al. In addi­tion, mech­a­niza­tion ensured a coor­di­nat­ed design, mod­el­ing and fab­ri­ca­tion process, as well as easy pre-assem­bly of the structures.

Con­cep­tu­al proposal

Wood was cho­sen for the project because it is an iden­ti­fy­ing mate­r­i­al in the con­struc­tion of tem­ples in south­ern Chile. The idea is to use the mate­r­i­al not only as a con­struc­tive ele­ment, but as an ele­ment that gen­er­ates the con­nec­tion between the built space, the vis­i­tor and the act of prayer or reflection.

We believe that the project suc­cess­ful­ly rede­fines a tra­di­tion­al con­struc­tion sys­tem in south­ern Chile through the indus­tri­al­iza­tion and mech­a­niza­tion of the mate­r­i­al, with­out com­pro­mis­ing its essence and for­mal expression.

Explana­to­ry report of the project
Down­load report

Pho­to internal

Tech­ni­cal drawings

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