Yao-Fang-Men Park Church

YAOFANGMEN CHAPEL The project site is located on a highland in the Yaofangmen Ruins Park in Nanjing, with a lake on the site’s north side and an elevated high-speed railway line on the south side. To avoid the impact of the high-Speed railway, the main praying hall of the Chapel is designed as a triangle facing away from the high-speed rail line and unfolds towards the lakeside to minimize the influence of the high-speed rail line on the church. At the same time, some low landscape walls are used in the design to guide people's views in specific directions to minimize the presence of undesired high-speed railways for the visiting experience. This is a place to communicate with your inner devout, a place to temporarily escape from the noise and complexity of the outside world, and a place to purify your soul. Light represents the beginning of all things. There is light first, and then there are all things. The design hopes to return to the origin and create an isolated emptiness where everything around is shielded. Only the sky, the light, and those pious hearts exist. Here, people can listen to their inner voices and tell the pureness of their hearts. ARCHITECTURE EXPERIENCE The presence of the building strives to be simple and concise in expressing the pureness of one’s belief. The entrance to the main hall is hidden on both sides of the building. Visitors need to enter the main hall through a long narrow corridor with a gentle slope. The retaining walls on both sides of the aisle will slowly rise with the ramp. The scale of space continues to shrink as one approaches the entrance allowing people to gradually isolate themselves from the surrounding environment. The design wants to create a process of isolation and introspection. Visitors will then enter the main Praying hall under a 10-meter cantilevered roof. The main hall has a triangular radial shape and a wall of frosted glass, which provides ample and soft natural light for the interior. A glass lightwell sits on top of the frosted glass wall where direct sunlight and shadow are interlaced, creating a dramatic spatial experience.