Chapel of the Holy Cross - Richard Hein (1957 AIA Award of Honor)

Completed in 1956, the chapel was under construction for 18 months and cost a total of $300,000 USD. In 1957, the chapel was awarded the American Institute of Architects an Award of Honor. Citizens of Arizona also dubbed the Chapel of the Holy Cross one of the Seven Man-Made Wonders of Arizona in 2007.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross built in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona is the epitome of what many architects try to achieve when designing religious architecture. It’s reliance on the symbolic rock as it’s foundation and the sprawling views of the surrounding environment create a humbling and spiritual experience within the walls of the church.

The chapel was inspired and commissioned by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude, who worked with project architect Richard Hein and architect August K. Strotz to complete this noteworthy and award winning chapel. More on the Chapel of the Holy Cross after the break.

Built directly over a butte, the valley stretches towards the horizon about 200 feet below. Besides it’s beautiful figurative ties to the Catholic faith through it’s structure on the solid rock, the giant cross that supports the structure of the glass is one of the notable characteristics of this chapel.

Painter and sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude had initially intended to build the chapel in Europe, but after not having found an appropriate site she returned to the United States, soon discovering this hillside in Sedona. It is surprisingly modern and contemporary, despite being built over half a century ago. The simple style of clean edges and regular forms only accentuate the surroundings and large cross at the front.

Located on the southern side of Twin Buttes, the chapel is accessible just off of the main road to Sedona (Highway 179) on Chapel Road. No regular services are held within the church, as it is meant to be a place of reflection and meditation. Visitors are greeted by a sign marking the entrance that reads “Peace to all who enter.” The interior is very simple, with nothing more than a few pews and an alter, so that attention will not be taken away from the spiritual inflection and physical block glass windows and large cross that emphasize the space.

http://www.archdaily.com/131125/ad-classics-chapel-of-the-holy-cross-richard-hein/

Sunset Chapel - Acapulco, Mexico

The stunning Sunset Chapel in Acapulco, Mexico, was completed only recently, but it has already gained much attention for its stark and arresting design by Esteban and Sebastián Suárez of Mexico City-based BNKR Arquitectura.

It is a memorial chapel that will eventually be surrounded by a "garden" of crypts. With its bare-concrete structure that appears eternal, and its slatted walls and glass cross that allow the light to perform its daily magic in the space, Sunset Chapel looks and behaves like a modern-day Stonehenge. Mysterious and stark, yet reassuring and calming; protective, yet part of the surrounding nature.

The elevated shape was partly dictated by an enormous boulder that already ruled the site, and by the wish to allow the spectacular view to be visible from within. At only 120 square meters in size, the chapel evokes  a surprising sense of strength. - Tuija Seipell

quote from Cool Hunter http://www.thecoolhunter.net/article/detail/1896/sunset-chapel--acapulco-mexico

Half the Sky: Women in the New Art of China 23-09 to 12-11-2011 半边天：中国女性新艺术

Yin Xiuzhen 尹秀珍《发动机》

Drexel University Curates Major Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Women Artists
featuring 60 works of art by 22 Chinese Women Artists

Bingyi, Cao Fei, Chen Qiulin, Han Yajuan, Hu Xiaoyuan, He Weina, Jiang Jie, Lin Jingjing, Liu Liyun, Liu Manwen, O Zhang, Qing Qing, Qi Peng , Shi Hui, Song Kun, Tao Aimin, Xiang Jing, Xiao Lu, Xing Danwen, Xu Xiaoyan, Yu Jingyang
 


An historic exhibition of contemporary Chinese women artists will be presented at Drexel University from September 23 to November 12, 2011. Co-curated by the National Art Museum of China and the Leonard Pearlstein Gallery of Drexel University, this survey-scale exhibition will be the first of its kind in the United States. More than 60 artworks by 22 woman artists, including painting, photography, sculpture, video and installation, will be on display.


In July, 2008, Holland Carter of the NY Times referred to Chinese women artists as the "quietly emerging sector" of the Chinese contemporary art world. But the phenomenal rush of so many Chinese artists to international success has bypassed the majority of deserving women artists. Half the Sky attempts to redress this situation by representing a cross section of gifted women artists currently working both inside China and in the Chinese diaspora.


It has been decades since Mao Zedong set communist ideology by proclaiming that women "hold up half the sky." In the West, the Women’s Movement of the 1970s and 80s has elevated the esteem in which women artists are held to a point of approximate parity with men. And yet Chinese women artists, while certainly not ignored on the world stage, are nevertheless overlooked to a significant degree.

Cui Xiuwen

Chen Qing Qing

For more information, please visit http://www.drexel.edu/westphal/events/halfthesky/

If the world were a village of 100 people - Toby Ng

Excellent graphics to tell us the story of us on the earth.  Designer Toby Ng graduated from Central St.Martins, London in 2008.  This set of 20 posters is built on statistics about the spread of population around the world under various classifications. The numbers are turned into graphics to give another sense a touch – Look, this is the world we are living in.

red dot award: communication design 2009
GDC Awards 2009
International Design Awards 2009
HOW International Design Awards 2010

http://www.toby-ng.com

School Bridge @ Fujian Pinghe 福建平和 - Li Xiao Dong 李小东 (winner of Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2010)

The “Bridge School” bridges the two parts of the small village of Xiashi that lie on either side of a small creek that runs through the village. The structure is created by two steel trusses that span the creek with the space between them housing the functions of the school. Suspended from the structure and running below it is a pedestrian bridge for the people of the village to use.

Small and modern in design, with no reference to the area’s traditional building style, the school has nonetheless become the physical and spiritual centre of what was a declining village. Placed in such a way that it addresses its surroundings, the Bridge School connects the village together, providing a central, social space.

The broader social aspect of the project was part of the brief, which was developed with the school principal and head of the village to answer community needs rather than simply those of a primary school.  A public library separates the two classrooms and the ends of each classroom, or the two ends of the school can be opened up, creating open stages at either end of the building that are integrated with the public spaces outside. The stage at the northern end can be used for performances, with the toulou as a backdrop. The result is a project that has successfully invigorated the entire community, encapsulating social sustainability through architectural intervention.