ARKxSITE has announced winners for its Site Chapel international architecture ideas competition, offering a place of solitude and contemplation and an intimate space for reflection and a platform for meditation on the Pessegueiro Island, in Porto Covo, Portugal.

The Pessegueiro Island is a significant landmark and a place of great cultural heritage and historical significance where the remains of the ‘Santo Alberto’ Fort together with the roman archaeological remains are notable features within this setting.

When generating a vision for an intervention located within such a spectacular place, it is essential that each design proposal emphasises, respects and celebrates the site and existing ruins, while providing visitors with a unique experience.

The Site Chapel is a place of solitude and contemplation, an intimate space for reflection and a platform for meditation. Together with the roman archaeological remains, the Fort ruins and the enigmatic space of the quarry, the Site Chapel offers a unique experience within this remarkable landscape; it is a reflective journey and contemplative walk through memory, time and silence.

Jury composed of Marià Castelló from Marià Castelló Architecture (Spain), Emanuele Colombo + Paolo Molteni from Larchs Architettura  (Italy) and Ignacio Correa from Ignacio Correa (Chile).

1st prize went to Santiago Esquivel and Alexa Burkle from Mexico, 2nd prize went to Natalie Burkhart from Germany and 3rd prize went to Andrés González-Meneses from Spain. The competition also selected 7 Honorable Mentions. 

Scroll down to see the winners with jury comments below:

1st prize: Santiago Esquivel and Alexa Burkle from Mexico

"The project honors the original traces of the quarry in a restrained intervention, which is born in the same way the quarry was – through subtraction of matter. This subtraction generates an ascending space that, combined with overhead light, evokes the need to meditate.
A silent project. A simple subtraction identifies the place of the chapel. Space is introverted, like personal meditation. Natural elements (sky, trees, rock) are an important part of the project and stimulate the sensory experience. The simplicity of the act is appreciated: a limited excavation enhances the whole context."

"The building appears at the moment in which the order of its context is varied or discontinuous, this is the value that the chapel of the quarries has. It is clear how a quadrant is first emptied to make a new space appear, and then it is excavated to give a spiritual sense to its interior."

"Congratulations!"

2nd prize: Natalie Burkhart from Germany

"The path to follow becomes the chapel: the entry descends into the labyrinthine, dark quarry and follows a succession of spaces until the final chamber. In it, the light floods the space, inviting contemplation of the natural elements – stone, water and air. The project proposes a linear path of meditation, which invites the visitor to a personal meditation. The transition from light to shadow generates different atmospheres. The tower that looks towards the ocean represents a landmark but also a symbol of connection with the absolute."

"It is clear how the building is defined in the vertical and horizontal projection of the monoliths of the quarry, this is what ensures an origin in the place, at the same time that it gives a value to the building-chapel itself, and its progressive course to the prayer space."

"Congratulations!"

3rd prize: Andrés González-Meneses from Spain

"The quarry itself is transformed into a façade inside the chapel, and its rugged surface is opposed to the concrete’s flat one. The horizon and the sea become the altar. The chapel lands on the island without any footprint, leaving the landscape intact."

"The value of abstraction. The simple composition of the elements is appreciated, but at the same time the cure and proportion of the spaces. The continuous and absolute material of the new grafts merges with the rock of the island. The heart of the island looks after the soul of the guests and turns it towards the vastness of the ocean’s void. Although the idea of interposing the space of the chapel in the path between the monoliths is debatable, the fact of diverting attention to a new direction, towards the open sea, allows the visitor to be stopped and confronted with a landscape that leads to contemplation."

"Congratulations!"

Honorable Mentions

Youri Spaninks-Amaro, Francisco Santos Costa and Rodolfo Capeto Coelho (Portugal)
Alex Tintea and Águeda Mata (Netherlands)
Xavier Loureiro (Spain)

Anna Viken and Iurii Rymakov (Ukraine)
Duarte Alves and Maria Morais (Portugal)
Juan Felipe Correa, Gladys Zuluaga, Daniel Bedoya and Alejandro Posada (Colombia)
Shuaizhong Wang, Ziqi Chen and Zeyu Liu (Finland)

All images courtesy of ARKxSITE 

To see other competitions, please visit WA Competitions page. 

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