Futuna Chapel

The Chapel of Futuna, Karori, Wellington.

The base of the chapel has a squareness to it, but the large geometrical triangles that form the roof really stand out in comparison to multiple other designs. It is a modernist building and can be compared with Le Corbusier's Ronchamp and with Matisse's little chapel in Venice. John Scott, the architect, has Māori heritage which influenced the design within. The centre pole, its sharply sloping eaves, and its modest deferential entrance, the building has its antecedents on the mare and in Māori meeting houses.  The chapel was opened on the 19th March 1961.

From the outside of the Chapel the triangular roofing with straight lines point up to the sky, opening the building up to you and welcoming you inside. Stepping inside the rough cement chapel, the stained glass windows really throw coloured light around the space creating a warmth. A high wooden geometrical ceiling leads the eyes up towards the direction of the gods, creating a void and allowing space for contemplation. Small details like carvings and mosaic pieces really add other layers to the beauty of the space.

The temperature of the space was really cold. The beautiful light that was cast across the space was a warmth, but the space (at least during winter) does make the body feel completely cold. I do think the timber form is beautiful how it cascades up from you and historically it is an amazing piece of architecture but material wise... maybe its more of a summer chapel.

Going around the chapel I kept finding really interesting textures and details which were very personal to the Chapel, so I decided to combine them and create a drawing like so. Rubbings of wood, a concrete pillar, marble imprint, metal signage and a rough sketch of mine from outside.

Elements that all combined to make the chapel.

Rubbed drawing of the concrete walls. I wasn't even able to get too much detail as the concrete was so harsh and bobbly, making it hard for the pencil to really get into the grooves and design.

The height of the Chapel really was amazing, the feeling of being small and looking up (purposefully designed to look up towards the gods).

The light shinning through the stain glass windows onto the cold and harsh concrete I personally felt was  a bit confusing. It felt like mixed messages, being beautiful light being cast but onto such a harsh material and so cold.

The top half of this image is the front (visible) design and the bottom half is the back of the design. The artificial lighting just really struck me as having artifactual lighting just didn't register as something within a chapel. Of course it can, but I just though it was quite strange.

Scaled model of the Chapel.