Pop Up Chapel: Runners-Up

Architizer News

Pop Up Chapel: Runners-Up

July 25, 2011

This morning we showed you the two winners of Architizer + The Knot’s Pop Up Chapel Competition. But half the fun of competitions are those interesting shortlisted projects. Now, we want to share some of the finalists. See them after the jump!

Yoo Joung Hwang submitted this design for one of the temporary chapels. The chapel is a layered composition, from the front appearing as a simple, but effective practice in perspective. A series of thin dichroic frames conceal a transparent staircase, which slowly rise towards an altar. Hwang’s prismatic design is subtle enough to avoid overt symbolism, and it would have been interesting to see the light transmuted through the threshold.

Situ Studio‘s Pop Up Chapel is an intriguing mix of the structural elegance of Gaudi and the gee-whiz mash-ups of early, experimental hot air balloon structures. A network of white, silken cords are fastened to a square base and rise up in the form of a dome, hoisted into position by a cluster of giant white balloons. This Pop Up Chapel is just that, as the tethered ropes are pulled tautly upwards by the helium-filled balloons. “The pattern of cords is placed such that one corner of the square platform remains open for the wedding party to enter. The officiant takes position at the opposite corner, the two witnesses on the sides, and the wedding couple right in the center, able to look up directly into the apex of the floating silk dome.”

The 1701 Collective, made up of members Crystal Chan, Gina Grillo, Andrew Robertson and Annie Danis, literally cuts a room into four canopies of trees. The whimsical section reveals a small, but cozy cube-like space where vows will be exchanged in complete calm and privacy–which isn’t to say there won’t be crowds lining up all around. Twelve brass wedding bells are hung from the ceiling, that is, tree branches above. The architects write: “The chapel envelopes each couple in dappled shade during this deeply personal event, while simultaneously allowing views for the wedding party and the crowds in Columbus Circle. The chapel envelopes each couple in dappled shade during this deeply personal event, while simultaneously allowing views for the wedding party and the crowds in Columbus Circle.”