Chapel of St. Rita testo abitare / rigenerazione
programme: design and costruction site managment of the chapel
client: privato
team: sophia los, sergio los
city/area: marostica, italy
status: completed 1993
A private chapel dedicated to Santa Rita, inside the S. Maria Assunta Parish Church of Marostica (Vicenza, Italy). Appointment for a Renewal project and for works management Altar mat created by Renata Bonfanti.
My debut on a construction site while still a student, this little project was inspired by the Venetian, 14-15th century sacred painting’s iconography and was meant to make the majolica altarpiece donated to the community by a local businessman as a votive offering available to those attending the Church.
“Our design originates from the idea of a glossy and bright space, like the inside of a shell, and therefore rounded at each edge, where to keep the precious altarpiece, which thus appears suspended in a sizzles setting. A wooden pew marks the distinction between the sacred area, illuminated whit soft, diffuse light, and the one reserved for the congregation.
on the other hand, the glossy and precious material of the bas-relief comes to meet us, taking on the opaque and dense appearance of earth through the texture of a rug woven according to a simple repeated pattern.
Like a prayer, the long strip of cloth once again opens a dialogue that the pew had only apparently closed and fills the gap between man and God, as prayer permits us to do.
And if we look in our memory we will find something familiar in the architectural composition of the Chapel, as well as in the rug which in Christian iconography always moves timidly towards the observer, like an invitation and reassuring promise of salvation.”
photo: Giustino Chemello