A Ribbon Chapel of unprecedented composition can be found in the garden of the resort hotel “Bella Vista Sakaigahama,” in Onomichi Hiroshima. Designed by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP Architects and constructed in 2013, this freestanding building rises helically through two entwining spiral stairways to architecturally embody the act of marriage in pure form. They cross paths at several points to provide support for one another, conjuring Luce Irigaray’s theory “Mucous of the Carnal”, whereby a substance has the capacity to sustain the role of a mediator between two thresholds. She writes about an erotic exchange of love, which conquers both lovers when they cross the boundaries of skin to meet in a shared space and a shared breath, indicating recognition
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Not unlike subjects of anthropological becoming, they strategically narrow and widen in breadth, in perpetuating response to location and function to accommodate for an effortlessly amplified experience of space. The human anatomy is considered to be nature’s peak of perfection, and certain analogies emerge from architectonic vocabulary, such as skeleton, skin and façade. Michelangelo Buonarroti, a master of human form, viewed anatomy – muscles, nerves and human proportions – as metaphors for the active elements of architecture. He saw it all intertwined as life, akin to the way this stairway is broader along particular bends, such as the summit where the couple meets, in directions facing scenic views, and in places where the eaves must be deep to shield the interior from the sun. The ribbons assume roles of both internal structures, posing as the tall, ever tapering ceiling, and external circulation, as a winding stair that leads to the building’s peak. Just as two lives may experience twists and turns before uniting as one, the two spirals seamlessly unite at their summit to negotiate a lasting impression through a whirlwind of a
Not unlike subjects of anthropological becoming, they strategically narrow and widen in breadth, in perpetuating response to location and function to accommodate for an effortlessly amplified experience of space. The human anatomy is considered to be nature’s peak of perfection, and certain analogies emerge from architectonic vocabulary, such as skeleton, skin and façade. Michelangelo Buonarroti, a master of human form, viewed anatomy – muscles, nerves and human proportions – as metaphors for the active elements of architecture. He saw it all intertwined as life, akin to the way this stairway is broader along particular bends, such as the summit where the couple meets, in directions facing scenic views, and in places where the eaves must be deep to shield the interior from the sun. The ribbons assume roles of both internal structures, posing as the tall, ever tapering ceiling, and external circulation, as a winding stair that leads to the building’s peak. Just as two lives may experience twists and turns before uniting as one, the two spirals seamlessly unite at their summit to negotiate a lasting impression through a whirlwind of a