OUR PROPOSAL 

The need of a sustainable, versatile, multi-faith place has found its reply in an architectural proposal characterized by a modular system and local materials articulated in three different solutions in term of shape, size and composition even though the technological solution is the same. Furthermore, the arid climate of the site has inspired a totally permeable palm wooden slab (84% of the site) that allows (together with the roofs) to receive the maximum quantity of meteoric water and collect it in a reservoir of 120 cubic meters at the service not only of the users but also of the community. The Palm wood has been largely used (external decking and structures) because of its natural resistance to atmospheric agents (needing no chemical coatings), in addition to its strong availability. The use of concrete is limited in favor of adobe bricks plastered with clay employed for all the walls, both for fence and chapels.
Developing the architectural essential themes of fence, structure and coverage, the result is a shared space in which the various worships coexist not renouncing to their own intimacy. The central volume has an octagonal plan which bestow a plurality of orientations being suitable for a democratic use, simultaneous or not, for Christians and Muslims.
In detail, the perimeter wall of this chapel is independent, separated from the coverage, which alludes to the concept of fence separating internal from external, light from shadow, sacred from public.
The coverage is sustained by eight coupled columns designed as trees in order to evoke the presence of nature, constant element in various faiths.
The two smaller chapels (denominated “Light” and “Earth” Chapel) are devoted to the celebration of singular worship, intended as meditation spaces. The paths of the project area are traced by vertical and palm wooden slats equal in size to the flooring ones, allowing to remove and replace them in various ways to make the site versatile to other future uses.