Page 23 - Annuario-2021

THE CHAPEL OF SILENCE Monolite in Botticino Classico
© Photo by Associates
BOTTICINO CLASSICO MARBLE IN
CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE
An architectural work designed and built by “Associates”, an architectural office
founded in Brescia by Nicolò Galeazzi and Martina Salvaneschi, the Chapel of
Silence is a contemporary work that includes elements in Botticino Classico
marble, which is finding great resonance and international success, so much
to have earned a nomination for the prestigious European Union Prize for
Contemporary Architecture – Mies Van Der Rohe Award 2019, and recently won
the BIG SEE Architecture Award 2019 | public and commercial architecture.
Located in Botticino, on the top of a valley, the Chapel is placed on the border
between the vast wild forest that dominates the landscape and the vineyard
owned by the buyer, acting as a “threshold” element between the man-made
world and the natural world. The building, although precisely defined as a “chapel”
due to its shape and its function as a spiritual place, is actually a secular space
because it is not intended for worship in the strict sense, but rather is intended
for contemplation and meditation. The Chapel is entirely made of wood with
interiors painted in black; externally it is coated with bitumen, which, in addition
to waterproofing, gives to the structure a textured effect. The Chapel of Silence
is also accompanied by two important elements in Botticino Classico marble:
the first one is monolith with a triangular-shaped recess for collecting rainwater,
a natural element of reference in the spaces of contemplation and prayer, the
second one is a Menhir, placed in the middle of the wood, in the direction of which
you can look at it from the inside structure, outwards, catalysing your attention for
concentration and contemplation. The chapel created by Associates is therefore
a masterpiece and a relational architecture under several points of view. First of all
this place contemplates the relationship between people who can meet here, or
the relationship between the two worlds on the border of which it is located and,
finally, it is a place that dialogues with the territory. It is exactly in this last sense
that the Architects decided to use the local Botticino Classico marble.
© Photo by Associates

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