Foster+Partners has released images for an elongated zig zag-shaped chapel, which will take place at the Vatican's Holy See pavilion for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. The Vatican is participating in the Venice Architecture for the first time this year in his history, after participating in the Venice Art Biennale in 2013 and 2015. 

Pavilions of the Holy See, curated by Francesco Dal Co, will feature 10 chapels commissioned by 10 different architects. Foster+Partners, named among one of them - in partnership with Tecno, will present a tent-like chapel stretched along a wooded area at one end of the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore.

Taking cues from three symbolic crosses and a timber deck set in the landscape, draped with a tent-like membrane, the studio morphed these crosses into "a tensegrity structure of cables and masts whilst the membrane evolved into a wooden latticework attached to the structure."

"Our project started with the selection of the site. On a visit to San Giorgio Maggiore, close to Palladio’s magnificent church and the Teatro Verde, we found a green space with two mature trees beautifully framing the view of the lagoon," said Norman Foster, Founder and Executive Chairman.

"It was like a small oasis in the big garden, perfect for contemplation. Our aim is to create a small sanctuary space diffused with dappled shade and removed from the normality of passers-by, focussed instead on the water and sky beyond," Foster added.

The opening ceremony will be held on Friday, 25 May, and the pavilion will remain open to the public between 26 May and 25 November 2018.

All images © Foster+Partners

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