Field Chapel - Max Mahaffey and Brian Moore (2010)
': .. Emptiness may resound without sound, may be filled by its potential to be filled,
and make open what is complete.. "
- Michael Benedict, For An Architecture of Reality
and make open what is complete.. "
- Michael Benedict, For An Architecture of Reality
In all of our experiences we encounter those rare places that manage to have a profound effect on
us. We remember specific details about the light casting shadows on a form or the touch of a specific
material to the palms of our hands that strike us in such a way that we are forced to reflect on
the nature of things. We remember the feelings of excitement or of contentment aroused in us when we occupy these spaces. They are the potent spaces of our lives.
The field chapel is an exercise in this potency.
We remember the corncrib - the weathered red paint on the wooden slats; the refuse of birds and rodents that have passed through it; the crossing wood members supporting its decaying roof. The crib belongs in these midwest landscapes.
We remember the temple - the faded wooden floorboards beneath our bare feet, creaking as we softly move from one space to another. The emptiness in the atmosphere allows nature to fill our thoughts.
There is a place in our memories reserved for the vernacular and the sacred.
- M. Mahaffey and B. Moore. "Field Chapel" (2010)
Field Chapel 11/23/19
The Field Chapel has been reused in part in the construction of River Pyre (2019)
Field Chapel (2010) w/Max Mahaffey
In constructing the space we have engaged in a labor that has given us our own time for reflection.
The process of torching and cleansing the wood has become a medium through which we can approach the more oblique aspects of architecture. This semester we wished to take our haptic responses to the burnt cedar and move them into an honest construction of space.
The process of torching and cleansing the wood has become a medium through which we can approach the more oblique aspects of architecture. This semester we wished to take our haptic responses to the burnt cedar and move them into an honest construction of space.
This project was conducted during the Spring of 2010 by Max Mahaffey and Brian Moore in their final term of undergraduate studies. It was funded in part by the Iowa State University Foundation. The project was advised by architecture professor, Pete Goche.