10 wedding chapels and 5 churchs that are extraordinary

This is a pink weekend, as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are getting married in St George's Chapel, Windsor, today, METALOCUS looks back at 10 weird and wonderful wedding chapels and churches.

San Bernardo Chapel by Nicolás Campodonico. Photograph © Nicolás Campodonico

Chapels

1. Abstraction and scales. Suzhou Chapel by Neri & Hu

The Neri & Hu Design and Research Office has been commissioned to design and build this chapel for the city of Suzhou, China. A project that starts from the typological analysis of the architecture of the place to propose a project that brings together the citizens.

2. A chapel in brick by Nicolás Campodonico

This magnificent exercise in pure-form architecture is located in the pampas plains, east of the province of Cordoba, in Argentina, the San Bernardo (patron of the place) Chapel, design of the architect Nicolás Campodonico, stands on a small hill of trees, originally occupied by a rural house and its farmyards, both dismantled to reuse their materials, mainly their century-old bricks. The site does not have electricity, running water, or any type of service. Nature imposes its conditions.

3. A sinuous roof to pray and to view South Africa by Steyn Studio

UK practice Steyn Studio worked with South African studio TV3 Architects to design the Bosjes Chapel, which is located on the Bosjes Farm in South Africa's picturesque Witzenberg district. The surface of the cast-concrete roof rises and falls to create a sinuous outline around all four facades. The architects drew inspiration for the form from the biblical passage Psalm 36:7: "How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings."

4. Seashore Chapel by Vector Architects

The location of the project by Vector Architects is Beidaihe New District, a district of the city of Qinhuangdao, in the Hebei province, and one of the most popular beach resort on China’s Bohai Sea coast. That’s why this chapel - in addition to the religious space - has a covered space for the people on the beach, embracing them, and this is what makes this project a really special one.

5. Mies van der Rohe in the IIT, Chicago

When we think about architecture, generally we imagine it in a spectacular way. But in the Robert F. Carr Memorial Chapel of St. Savior anything of this exists, simply because it was not thought to be. Something simply was thought and it is in the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Nevertheless inside its simplicity, a small building is contained, but at the same time, monumental; an upright construction, primitive and a simple space that shows all the purity of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s work.

6. Taking care of detail. Saint Benedict Chapel by Peter Zumthor

Designed in 1988, this serene structure was built before Zumthor was an internationally known name. Unpretentious but very elegant, the chapel looks small next to the houses around it (and the Alps in the background), and blends naturally with its surroundings.

7. Chapel of NOSSA SENHORA DE FÁTIMA by Plano Humano Arquitectos

The chapel is dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima and is inspired by the scouting experience: outdoor life, camping, the tent, and by the sobriety and simplicity of buildings and lifestyle. The cover of the project designed by Plano Humano Arquitectos is supported by 12 wooden beams (an allusion to the Apostles) revealing the constructive simplicity and truth. With a total length of 12m, the structure reaches its highest point at 9m, after the Altar, where the raising of the main beam increases the space depth, and highlights this sacral point.

8. Ribbon chapel by Hiroshi Nakamura and NAP Architects

Two spirals that rise to meet on the cover, creating an independent and self-supporting structure in which a careful design of the structure has allowed to build a building in which floors, walls and roof are formed by the rotation of the stairs. Located next to Japan Inland Sea and surrounded by high trees, this chapel designed by Hiroshi Nakamura and NAP Architects is configured as a double spiral formed by two staircases that rise to get the views of the landscape of ocean and islands. With this unique structure the path over the stairs becomes a symbolic appeal for the ceremony held in the interior space.

9. CHAPEL OF ST ALBERT THE GREAT by Simpson & Brown Architects

The Chapel of Saint Albert the Great, which has been serving students and staff, and the wider community since 1931, is situated on George Square at the University of Edinburgh. La nueva capilla de San Alberto el Grande, en George Square, Edimburgo, se terminó a finales de 2012. The chapel, designed by Simpson & Brown Architects was completed in late 2012 and aims to provide a modern space for worship but also to increase capacity and improve accessibility.

10. Chapel in Nanjing Wanjing garden by AZL Architects

The practice AZL architects has just completed the Nanjing Wangjing garden chapel a 200 sqm small chapel is located along Nanjing’s Riverfront. The chapel is really only built of few materials: wood, steel, strong geometries and light.

Churchs

1. Álvaro Siza, the Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande church

Álvaro Siza’s use of light and white concrete provide a unique ceremonial space that gently folds into the neighborhood south of Rennes. The main concern of Siza when designing the project was being able to integrate the church into the urban fabric.

2. Santa Maria Parish Center in Tarragona by Gimeno + Guitart

Santa Maria Parish Center in Tarragona by Gimeno + Guitart is an example of modern sacred and community architecture. The new church Santa María Assumpta and the parish center in Bonavista, Tarragona, are designed by Gimeno + Guitart as a monument and a symbol of the transcendental and of the collective identity of the parish.

3. Pampulha inscribed as World Heritage Site. Oscar Niemeyer. São Francisco de Assis church

El conjunto arquitectónico de Pampulha fue el centro de un proyecto urbanístico visionario de ciudad-jardín realizado en 1940 en la ciudad de Belo Horizonte, capital del estado brasileño de Minas Gerais. Planeado en torno a un lago artificial, ese centro de carácter cultural y recreativo comprendía un casino, una sala de baile, el Yate Golf Club y la iglesia de San Francisco de Asís. Todos sus edificios fueron diseñados por el arquitecto Oscar Niemeyer, en colaboración con diversos artistas innovadores.

4. Remodeling of St. Moritz Church by John Pawson

The interior remodeling of St. Moritz Church is one of last projects by the minimalist architect John Pawson. White, only the white as a tool for remodelling of a church in Augsburg, Germany, with slices of onyx over the windows to diffuse light more softly through the space.

5. La Ascension del Señor Church by AGi architects

The architectural proposal designed by AGi architects for this Catholic Church, that is integrated into a newly established residential area in Seville, has been led by Spanish architects Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea and Salvador Cejudo. The work was completed and blessed in September 2013, being part of the planned facilities for the area.