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BUILDING |
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Kapel Heilige Maria der Engelen
Chapel of Saint Mary of the Angels |
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DESCRIPTION |
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| Third chapel built on the 150 year remains of the former chapels |
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 In 1998 Mecanoo architecten designed a new chapel for the R.K. Cemetery St. Laurentius in Rotterdam. This would be the third chapel for the cemetery, which was originally founded on the 13th of March 1865. This third Chapel, devoted to Saint Mary of Angels, was put into use in 2001.
 The Chapel of Saint Mary of Angels is situated on the exact location of a neo-classical chapel, which was completed in 1869. This chapel almost collapsed because of the unstable Rotterdam building ground. In 1963 a new chapel was built on top of the foundations of the old one: a building, which was shaped like a big wigwam, covered with copper, with a bell in its top. This chapel also suffered from foundation-problems. Again the building tended to collapse and had to be broken down. The third chapel therefore became a new foundation.
The routing of the Chapel of Saint Mary of Angels is based on a confidence in the continuation of life. You carry the deceased into the chapel, have a moment of reflection in a quiet, meditative building, and then leave the chapel in a single, continuous movement. The space has an organic form: a continuous curving wall raised seventy centimetres above the ground. The wall has an intense deep blue colour and texts from the Requiem appear on it in many languages; the cemetery is a place for the multicultural population of Rotterdam. The roof floats above the space like a folded sheet of paper. The golden ceiling is artificially lit from below. An opening in the ceiling allows daylight to enter the chapel in a ray of light, which is further accentuated at the moment when incense is burnt.
The chapel is standing on a platform of gravel within the outlines of the previous neo-gothic chapel. Two floors, inlayed with natural stone, mark the place of the priest and the congregation. In the bell tower, the bell from the chapel of 1963 is placed. |
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LOCATION |
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MAP |
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TYPOLOGY |
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ARCHITECTURE | Religious buildings
Churches and places of worship
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CHRONOLOGY |
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Project |
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1998 - 1999
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Realisation |
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2000 - 2001 |
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BIBILIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES |
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| Architectural Record 7/02, july 2002 [Architecture for Remembrance], pp. 98-101 |
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| Luca Molinari, "Mecanoo", Abitare 417, maggio/may 2002 [Olanda/Nederland], p. 158 (156-159) |
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| Domus 844, gennaio/january 2002, p. 25 |
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| The Architectural Review 1257, november 2001, pp. 41-43 |
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| L'Architecture d'aujourd'hui 337, novembre-décembre/november-december 2001, pp. 46-47 |
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| GA Document 67, october 2001, pp. 60-65 |
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CLIENT |
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| R.K. begraafplaats St. Laurentius, Rotterdam |
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AMOUNT |
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DIMENSIONAL
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STRUCTURES |
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STAFF |
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| Project |
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| Mecanoo Architecten, Delft |
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| Design team |
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| Francine Houben, Francesco Veenstra, Ana Rocha, Huib de Jong, Martin Stoop, Natascha Arala Chaves, Judith Egberink, Henk Bouwer |
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| Interior design |
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| Mecanoo Architecten, Delft |
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| Art intervention |
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| General contractor |
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| H&B Bouw b.v., Sassenheim |
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CREDITS |
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Photos © Christian Richters
Model © Pieter Vandermeer
Text edited by Mecanoo Architecten
Courtesy by Mecanoo Architecten
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