Wachendorf, Germany. Germany landscapes are very orderly. Village is village and field is field. It is prohibited to build outside of the boundaries of villages, and thus the fields and forests are more or less free from any scattered buildings. Only very small structures may be built in the open country side.
When walking through the leafy forests in the Eifel region, there is one place where one moves out of the woods and the village of Wachendorf is visible in the far distance, while in the foreground there are fields of wheat and corn. And there is one strangely shaped object, which neither reveals it purpose, nor is the form easily grasped. It is a vertically proportioned block of rough concrete cast over a five-sided plan. The door is triangular and made of metal. When entering the dark space, there are only some very small light spots visible. After a while, when the eyes get used to the darkness, the inner surface becomes visible. A texture of concave, vertical strips with traces of charcoal. The further one enters the lighter the cave gets, and finally opens to the sky. The hole on the top is not covered, so that rain may fall into inside. The floor is covered with lead. The light spots are covered with glass balls the size of a fist. Its all very magical. The place turns out to be a chapel.
The farmer who owns the land dedicated the chapel to a Brother Klaus, a monk, as a sign of gratefulness for a fulfilled life. He commissioned the famous architect Peter Zumthor to design it, and got it built by local voluntary helpers. The concrete is rammed by hand, the inner space is formed by building up a bunch of logs which come from the forest nearby. After the concrete is poured and hardened, the log are set on fire in the old tradition of making charcoal from wood. The door and the hole on the top form a kiln. The whole set-up is structurally held together through jacks that leave the small holes, which are later filled with glass balls.
The whole space is so magical that even when understanding how it is made the spell does not disappear. The space is so small that it is not suitable for gathering a group, only solitary meditation is possible. When exiting one can sit on the integrated benches around the building and look out into the wide open landscape around Wachendorf.