The place to contemplate: Chapel of St Thérèse of Lisieux Lyttelton

Charity – an approach to giving rooted in care for one’s neighbour – is a crucial tenet of Christianity. New Zealand-based architect Michael O’Sullivan’s family’s decision to design and donate the Chapel of St Thérèse of Lisieux to the people of Christchurch, on the country’s South Island, nicely embodies this philosophy.

The structure is clad with an aluminium weatherboard developed by O’Sullivan’s Lyttelton-based architecture practice, Bull O’Sullivan. The material gives the project an ethereal atmosphere, thanks to its soft, reflective quality. It’s an effect enhanced by a translucent red panel that runs over the entirety of the roof, which diffuses a warm glow inside the chapel. The triangular doorway, meanwhile, is a play on the concept of the Holy Trinity.

Inside, a hushed, contemplative mood is created by chocolate-hued wool carpets and walls clad with darkly coloured timber from a native rimu tree. “This particular tree was extracted from a river where it’s said to have been for 600 years,” says O’Sullivan. “Before that, it was alive for a millennium. There’s something quite beautiful about the idea.”

Here, Christ himself is represented in the form of a crucifix, which was carved by Maori artist Johnny Hauraki from kauri timber beams that were salvaged from an earthquake-damaged warehouse in Christchurch.

This combination of a minimal palette of materials evokes the spirit of the chapel’s namesake, Thérèse of Lisieux. The Carmelite nun was known for her humble, simple approach to spirituality and was affectionately nicknamed “the little flower”. She is an appropriate patron, given that the compact chapel’s structure emerges gently from the landscape like a flower looking out at Lyttelton’s harbour.
bosarchitecture.co.nz