This small chapel, designed by Tadao Ando is situated close to Tomamu in Hokkaido, Japan. It is also popularly known as Church on the Water. It is a tight-spaced chapel and is a part of the Alpha Resort Hotel. Ando managed to create a secret chamber focused towards a small forest of beech trees. The main element of the church is the large waterbody that forms the backdrop of the church. This waterbody further connects with a natural stream. Thus, originated the name Church on the water.

Introduction

• Church on the Water by Tadao Ando stands peacefully in Hokaiddo dwelling perfectly with the surrounding environment.
• The connection of indoor with the natural landscape and stream in the outdoors creates a stigma of its own in the sacred space. Moreover, the church seems to become a part of the environment.
• Hokkaido, a region of cold winters, is located at the northern end of the Japanese archipelago. The surrounding area is thickly wooded. Also, it is covered with greenery from spring to summer.
• The leaves turn brown in autumn. However, the region is snow-covered during winters. A rich diversity of flora and fauna surrounds the church. One can also hear the sound of winds blowing and birds singing in the silence of the prayer.

Geometry into the Form of the Church on the Water

• To form the artificial lake at the site, a natural stream has been made to change its path. The geometrical form of the church designed by Ando stands against the beautiful waterbody.
• This landscape, integrating natural scenery, garden, and architecture, is also a masterpiece of contemporary Japanese landscape design.
• As we walk into the beautiful site, the sound of the water guides us up to the chapel. An L-shaped wall shields the church from the disturbance of the city and settlements.
• As we turn the corner at the wall end, we are exposed to the wide expanse of the lake. Moreover, it triggers a sense of release as if our bodies were melting into the landscape.

Concept

“You cannot simply put something new into a place. You have to absorb what you see around you, what exists on the land, and then use that knowledge along with contemporary thinking to interpret what you see.”

• These words are apparently a part of the Architecture Style of every Ando’s masterpieces. Moreover, he always tries to connect the human soul with the built-up structure. It also creates a sense that humans and buildings are a part of this large ecosystem.
• Chapel on the water in Hokkaido also binds a relationship with nature which is the principal concept of his work.
• Ando developed a poetic nature in this small chapel, bringing in light horizontally instead of from the top.
• Moreover, the soul connection that a worshipper feels in a sanctum area is spread across every corner in this church.
• Also, being in a confined low space makes you feel away from the large world and fills you with sanity.
• Ando succeeded in creating a microcosm in which he combines concepts related to the sacred and the secular, the artificial and the natural, the hidden and the exposed, the infinity and the void, in a simple but ingenious manner.
• The most noteworthy aspect is that Ando has used the frontal wall of the church to connect the human with majestic nature. It created a sense of openness in such a the confined space.
• In this way, he created a living, multicolor and ever-changing scene, that changes from the sepia tones of autumn to the glaucous hues of winter; from the florid blooms of spring to the intense greens of summer. 

Visual walkthrough into the chapel on the water

• The Church on the Water belongs to the surrounding environment, sloping down towards a small river in a clearing of beech trees all around. This element of nature also initiates a simple and unforced experience in this Church on the Water in Tomamu, Japan.

• The Chapel is based on a clear geometric concept.

• The form is a combination of two overlapping squares. They face the artificial water body on the site.

• The building plan is two overlapping squares, one 50 feet a side, and the other 33 feet. Four crosses are arranged in the smaller square, with their ends nearly touching.

• The larger cube, with a semi-circular spiral staircase, meets at the entrance of the smaller cube. The larger cube serves as the chapel. The long L-shaped wall separates the chapel from the hotel behind it. The buildings lined in the south and east edge of the pond also establish a perfect visual enclosure.

The Experience:

• The visitors enter the church from below the glass and steel cube at the northernmost end. This space also houses the four large concrete crosses, that attract attention.
• The crosses define a transparent cube intended as a divine space that disperses toward the cardinal points.
• The space within the crosses is a small square with a glass roof and benches arranged around its perimeter.
• The crosses are 50cm thick. They are arranged in a way that their outer vertices are separated by barely 5cm, adding to the dramatization of the composition.
• To add to the beauty, the crosses have been placed in a transparent cube; a metal structure covered with laminated glass.
• The path leads up and around these crosses, and then down the connecting dark spiral stairway into the larger cube of the chapel below.
• Upon entering the chapel, visitors are struck with the view of the pond and surrounding trees through the glass wall in the front. Concrete forms the rest of the walls. A steel cross sits right in the center of the artificial pond, outside the building.
• The act of transferring the cross from the interior of the church further increases its visual impact.

Going into more architectural details about the church on the water

• Next to the chapel there is a 6.2-meter high concrete portico, supporting a beam which extends 15.9 meters

• This portico also houses the sliding screen which sits between the church and the pond. It reinforces the idea of being a small creature in this large shell of the world keeping us down to earth.

• In this way, when the weather permits, it is possible to pull aside the screen, maximizing the intimate relationship between the chapel and its surroundings

• In a corner of the chapel, there are three waiting rooms as well as hygiene services, adjoining the semicircular staircase and discretely hidden below the light cube.

• The interior of the chapel is impeccably sober. The room is lined up with five rows of wooden benches in pairs on either side.

• The walls of the chapel contain a number of fenestrations which becomes the light source, establishing a series next to the exposed concrete grid, which is typical of Ando’s works.

Materials used in the Church on the Water:

• Concrete and glass are the two major elements that comprise the whole church.
• The church uses double-layered walls for thermal insulation. The wall comprises 35 inches of concrete wall on both sides of a layer of a Styrofoam sheet.
• Black granite slab flooring further enhances the exclusivity of the church.
• The heated floors of the church are also double layered.

Adding some more interesting facts to it, the church on the water by Tadao Ando is one of the most desired wedding destinations for young Japanese women and holds many weddings each year. To protect against the harsh weather, the large glass wall is closed most of the time. However, it is opened for ceremonies. It unites the guests with the seemingly infinite natural world outside of the windows.

Ando succeeded in his intentions to design a sacred spaces through the ritualistic and circuitous entry route. To date, it is one of the prestigious sacred space around the corner for the residents around it.