Kamppi Chapel of Silence Offers a Peaceful Space for Everyone in the World Design Capital

The Kamppi Chapel of Silence, which is currently being built on Helsinki’s Narinkkatori square, forms a part of the World Design Capital programme. Open daily from early morning until late evening, the chapel will offer a place for quiet meditation and, occasionally, conversation, with personnel from Helsinki’s religious congregations and the Social Services Department available for a chat. There will be no worship services or congregation events in the chapel as such.

“Many themes of the Design Capital come together in the chapel: using design for improving urban landscapes and creating an attractive living environment; a novel idea of having a retreat in the middle of the busy city; and sustainable construction materials and methods,” says Pekka Timonen.

Slated for completion in the spring of 2012, the chapel is designed by K2S Architects with architect Mikko Summanen as the main designer. The chapel is a fine example of innovative timber architecture, and the design has already been recognised: it was awarded the Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award 2010.

Urban enhancement taken into account already in the construction phase

The fence of the chapel construction site will be decorated with street art.  The art will be provided by Multicoloured Dreams, a visual art movement with the objective to transform temporary urban constructions into vehicles of street art. The construction site fence will introduce a dozen pieces of artwork representing the theme of Peace and Peace Advocacy. The artists have recently started their work and the artwork is expected to be ready by 10 July 2011.

The site fence also includes another well-received feature: a Wailing Wall. Many written wishes, thoughts and prayers have already been pushed through the slots on the Wall. The requests will be included in prayers at the open church meetings of the Old Church. Some of the thoughts will be exhibited later in the chapel.

Originally, the idea of an urban chapel came from the City of Helsinki. The client is the Parish Union of Helsinki. The parish unions of Espoo and Vantaa have participated in planning the future activities in the chapel.