Internal Sunshine

This project was a quick exercise in materials. My materials of choice were concrete and wood. I consider both of them to be very sensual and emotional. Craftsmanship and signs of wear are always honestly reflected. For these reasons I decided to design a small chapel for meditation using concrete and wood.

The small chapel measures 12'x12'x12'. It is not air conditioned and is only intended for one "user" at a time. The 1/2" scale section model seen in the pictures are made of plaster. Formwork had to be made and plaster poured, just as how a concrete structural is constructed in real world.

Somewhere during the process of experimenting with plaster, I realized wood does not necessarily need to be presence in order to be seen and experienced. In other words, using wooden formwork and allowing its grain, texture and pattern to be left on concrete.

The result was superb if I may say so myself. Like a dental mould, the plaster faithfully recorded every vein, joint and scratch on the wooden formwork. Under sun light the all plaster model really comes to life with essence of wood embedded on the surface.

The chapel was further developed to incorporate movement of the sun as a design element. I even made a 7 minutes animation to show how the chapel interacts with natural light in the day, and artificial light at night. It will be posted after I sort through the files.