Spotlight: The Vatican Makes an Entrance at the Venice Architecture Bienniale with Venetian Island Chapels

by Mallory Budy | July 9th, 2018

Contemplative, meditation-focused spaces are becoming a mainstay in the complex fabrics of our cities, homes and workplaces. And these spaces have moved well beyond the constricting “memorial”, “religious”, “tributary” purposes they once clung to. The design of many such spaces now speak to personal and community wellbeing, in physical, mental and emotional forms. Nestled in a woodland garden oasis on the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore, a series of 10 chapels by 10 architects makes up the Vatican’s first entrance into the Venice Architecture Bienniale. The 10 chapels are joined by the Asplund Pavilion, an 11thstructure serving as a prelude to the subsequent chapels and inspired by Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund’s 1920 Woodland Chapelin Stockholm, created nearly a century ago. Together, they create the Pavilion of the Holy See, reflective of Asplund’s chapel typology as “a place of orientation, encounter, meditation and salutation.” [TheHoly Seeis the universal government of …