Terunobu Fujimori: Towards a Sensory Architecture. From Tea Houses to the Vatican Chapel

Abstract

This paper examines the Chapel of the Cross (also referred to as the Vatican Chapel), a s design by Terunobu Fujimori commissioned for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. This work challenges the boundaries between liturgical artefact, architectural object, and contemplative space. Adopting a phenomenological perspective, the study analyses this non-consecrated chapel to explore how Fujimori translates his distinctive approach into a Christian context. Fujimori’s practice is characterised by the incorporation of archaic components – with particular reference to the Jōmon period-, the preference for natural materials, and an emphasis on sensory and bodily experience. The study provides a comprehensive overview of the architect’s experimental trajectory and the Biennale’s exhibition context, examining its continuity with the individual spirituality of his tea houses. This inquiry contributes discourse on new forms and experiences of the sacred in architecture.