Chapel in Athenian campus

NTUA

Project idea

The project calls for the construction of a small Christian temple, within the context of “Morphology and Significance of the Christian Temple” course of NTUA’s architecture school. The field is located in NTUA’s campus, in the city of Athens. It is characterized by its steep inclination and dense, high vegetation and can be approached through one of the main pedestrian walkways of the campus.

Project description

The composition assumes as a point of departure the distinct linear format of the typical Christian temple, which expresses the mystagogic route from the human world to the divine. Two solid, linear walls are extended all across the site, integrating into the existing topography, and thus determine the main synthesis axes. A third wall is placed vertically, signaling the end of the spiritual route, forming the chancel of the church. Centrally and above the two strict, linear walls, a semispherical floating dome indicates the interior of the temple.

- The dome, the most distinguishing and dominant form in religious architecture, inside the Christian church symbolizes the sky and in most cases rests inside the strict borders of the structure. -

Here, the dome expands beyond the trace of the linear walls, giving the impression, from the inside, that it is dispersing in all directions.
A curve-shaped watery surface surrounds the building. The difference in the altitude between the level of the interior and the level of the exterior, combined with the presence of the water, are giving the visitor the impression of entering a lake, thus nourishing a sense of mental and spiritual purification. The natural light inserts the structure mainly through the dome. The watery surface reflects the sunlight beams in the dome’s surface illuminating the interior.
The outdoor space consists mainly out of two yards, a theatrical shaped one that is placed in between the linear walls, in front of the entrance, and a more isolated one in the south side of the field, where certain ceremonies can take place during the year.

Technical information

The building as a whole is made out of fair faced reinforced concrete, giving the impression of the natural rock, a structure that wasn’t placed on the site but was born from it. The dome is seated in three points, two of which are part of the vertical wall and the third a rectangular column that defines the temple’s entrance. The east part of the building is buried beneath the hill, with its planted roof functioning as a continue of the landscape.