Seashore Chapel Set on a Chinese Beach by Vector Architects.

Beijing-based studio Vector Architects have imagined the Seashore Chapel as an old boat drifting on the ocean. As the ocean receded through time, it left an empty structure behind lying on the beach. Spatially, the architects have divided the chapel vertically. The undercover outdoor area becomes a resting place for people on the beach, connecting religious space to the mundane life. When the tide rises, this space becomes submerged by the ocean, and in that moment, the image of the drifting boat emerges.

The atmosphere on the upper floor is intensely divine and religious. The spatial experience begins on the 30-meter path leading to the chapel. With a glimpse of the ocean in the distance, the visitors walk up the stairs, go through the gate, and make a turn around the screen-wall into the space with uninterrupted ocean views. The relationship between the space and the ocean is closer due to the elevated position. The view becomes isolated from the beach and people, leaving the outstretched ocean the only thing in sight.

There are limited openings within the chapel. Apart from the large large horizontal window to the ocean to the East facade, a few narrow gaps between the walls bring the natural light in. On the Eastern facade, a triangle opening gently illuminates the cross from the bottom and up. Another light channel sitting on top of the pitched roof allows the natural light to stream into the space via a small gap between the curved wall and the pitched roof.

At the noon of spring, summer and fall, when the solar altitude is almost perpendicular, the light projects directly onto the Northern wall, generating vivid lighting effect. Although the light does not stay for long, the texture of the stucco wall is emphasised and celebrated by the light at that moment, and becomes a touchable skin. On the northern side, a compact cantilevered space for meditation fits a single person with solid walls wrapping around the body, and a single window extending the sight towards the distant ocean.

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[Images courtesy of Vector Architects. Photography by 陈颢 Chen Hao.]