john pawson

wooden chapel
our architecture film, shot in october 2023, captures the wooden chapel designed by john pawson – a sculptural gesture of massive, stacked tree trunks. this silent building, set at the threshold between forest and open landscape, is defined by both archaism and precision.

the architecture film unfolds through a careful composition of moving stills and subtle drone footage, conveying the intense stillness of the site. from the aerial view, the timber merges with the forest, while close details reveal grain, slits of light, and surfaces that still carry traces of the time before the chapel was built.

inside, everything is shaped by silence. narrow clerestory openings filter daylight, while a cross of amber glass completes the sparse illumination. a single opening at eye level frames the church tower of unterliezheim and opens the chapel toward the landscape.

the film reveals the essence of the timber – its texture and the traces of time – made tangible in dialogue with light and space. the radical minimalism of the architecture sharpens the focus on one’s own senses – the scent of timber, the song of the forest, the rhythm of breath. all of this merges in the architecture film into a contemplative experience.