Chapel of St. LawrenceRealized

Building type: Cemetery chapel
Competition: open architecture competition, 1st prize, 2003
Location: Pappilankuja 3, 01510 Vantaa, Finland
Year of completion: 2010
Gross Area: 1879 sqm
Total cost: 10 m€
Client: Vantaa Parish Union
User: Vantaa Parish Union
Developer: Vantaa Parish Union

Designers:
Architects: Avanto Architects Ltd / Ville Hara and Anu Puustinen (principal designer), Architects SAFA
Assistants:
Felix Laitinen, student of Architecture
Tommi Tuokkola, Architect SAFA
Jonna Käppi, Architect ARB, SAFA
Piotr Gniewek, student of Architecture
Asami Naito, student of Architecture
Interior Designer: Avanto Architects Ltd / Kai Korhonen, Architect SAFA
Landscape Architect: Landscape Architects Byman Ruokonen Ltd / Eva Byman, Niina Strengell
Structural Design: R J Heiskanen Engineers Ltd / Kari Toitturi, Helena Lomperi
HVAC Design: Leo Maaskola Engineers Ltd / Jukka Sainio, Esa Leino
Electric Design: Veikko Vahvaselkä Engineers Ltd / Rauno Nyblom, Lassi Jalava
Lighting Design: Tülay Schakir
Acoustic Design: Akukon Ltd / Olli Salmensaari
Textile Design: Avanto Architects Ltd

Contractors:
Prime contractor: Rakennuspartio Ltd
Electric contractor: Lassila & Tikanoja Ltd / Building Services / Electric Services
HVAC contractor: Sähköpeko Etelä-Suomi Ltd
Timber furniture contractor: Wooden Ltd
Metal furniture contractor: Selki-Asema Ltd
Metal mesh contractor: Inlook Ltd
Artists: Pertti Kukkonen, Pekka Jylhä
Organ constructor: Urkurakentamo Veikko Virtanen Ltd
Landcape contractor: Lemminkäinen Ltd and Suomen Graniittikeskus Ltd

Photographers:
www.Kuvio.com/ Anders Portman and Martin Sommerschield
www.uusheimo.com/Tuomas Uusheimo

Chapel of St.Lawrence – Space for grief

The Vantaa Parish Union held an open architectural competition in the spring of 2003 for the design of a new cemetery chapel in the vicinity of the historic Church of St. Lawrence. The area has been classified as a nationally important cultural environment. The winning entry, out of 194 proposals, was “Polku” (“Path”) by Avanto Architects. The chapel was completed 2010.

Context, Massing
The old stone church with its bell tower remain the dominant features in the landscape. The new chapel ties together different aspects of the area without emphasizing itself. The chapel connects with the graveyard, leaving the old buildings with their own boundaries and territories untouched. It delineates the northern boundary of the graveyard and hides the service yard behind its back. The chapel has been divided in smaller parts to adapt with the scale of the surroundings. The stacked stone walls of the cemetery are echoed in the design – a series of three chapels of different sizes are nested within orthogonal masonry walls. A new bell tower in a corner of the chapel completes the composition and leads the eye skyward.

Structure, Materials, Lifespan
The building uses similar materials as the old structures in the area. The massiveness of the load bearing solid masonry walls balances changes in temperature and moisture. The lightly plastered and whitewashed walls are a bright, tranquil background for the events taking place in the chapel spaces. Apart from the walls, the building has a steel structure. The partition walls are in-situ cast white concrete and the roof is of patinated copper, like the roof of the church. The patina in all copper surfaces in the chapel has been added by hand. The ceilings and the glazed walls toward the graveyard in the chapels are covered with a patinated copper mesh; it functions as a screen between the outside and the spaces of the chapel. The mesh also decreases heat loads from sunshine. The low stone walls flanking the small gardens and courtyards use stone extracted from the site. The floors of public spaces are of slate.

The lifespan target for the chapel is two hundred years. The main structure will certifiably last that long and the natural materials used will age with dignity. A lifespan simulation was used as an aide for the design. An important factor in choosing the materials was locality in addition to longevity; and on-site building and an emphasis on craft were distinct features of the whole project. These ways of working ground the building in its surroundings and display the traces of handcraft.