Sacredness of nature and interiority of forms. Contemporary interpretations of the chapel in the woods

Abstract

Since ancient times, sacred – the unknown and incorporeal otherness with which man tries to establish an intimate comparison – has been felt in places with a strong naturalistic meaning where, usually, the predisposition of the soul to interiority intensifies. In fact, nature – as a metaphorical evocation of wandering, contemplating, seeking, getting lost but also of finding oneself – in its many guises has often been the mystical and idyllic place of architecture, especially the sacred one. The archetype of the sacred wood is deeply rooted in the ancestral imagery of man and architect: from Vitruvius to Alberti, from Laugier to Loos, from Asplund to Tessenow, it is the ‘topical’ space in which architecture reveals its presence.

Keywords

• natura
• architettura
• sacro
• forme dell’interiorità
• contemporaneo