Salgenreute Chapel

2016
Religious
Salgenreute 116
6942 Krumbach
Österreich
Religious
Shingle
Perforated façade
Gable roof
concentric
rear-ventilated

Like a gem, the Salgenreute chapel lies on a Nagelfluh ridge near Krumbach. A renovation of the old chapel was no longer possible from a structural point of view, a pure remapping of the existing building was not a declared goal. The chapel is a solitaire of expressive architecture. It arose from a creative process of planning and building, which was characterized by an extraordinary collaboration. In a process of joint planning and building lasting several years, a project by citizens of Krumbach and craftsmen became visible in an exemplary way. Only when more than a hundred people consider their working time and their organizational skills as the quality and added value of "doing" does the possibility arise to realize and finance such a project.

The chapel is built of wood and stone. The sunlight will make it dark, black in the south, silver-gray in the north, like the old farmhouses. The simple basic form consisting of the nave and apse is based on an almost identical floor plan, as the existing building has done for more than 200 years. The room form is new. A steeply aspiring spatial folding made of wood, lifted off the terrain. Without a classic tower top, it captivates with a significance and symbolism that is conducive to the location and the theme.

As a basis, a base of Alberschwende limestone was joined as dry masonry, above which walls and ceilings were wrapped in a weather dress of hand-beaten larch shingles. By resetting the entrance, a protective vestibule is created. A door studded with hammered brass leads inside, into a room of touching solemnity and captivating simplicity at the same time. In the prayer room, twelve frames, which prevent the folding structure made of cross-laminated wood from bending, emphasise the height development. Untreated fir is used as a top layer on the walls, on the floor and on the simple rows of benches.

In the grazing light that enters through the glazed apse wall, the whitewashed, rough-sawn wooden formwork in the chancel appears like a textile lining. The portrait of Mary in the form of the figure of Mary, which comes from the existing building, is not centrally arranged as in classical concepts, but laterally accompanying. The view forward through the apse thus remains unobstructed and leads the view directly out into nature. Anyone who enters the chapel leaves the solid ground and embarks on a contemplative journey.

Source: bernardo bader architekten
Photos: Adolf Bereuter