In the hills of southern Lower Austria, the recently completed Kapelle Salgenreute is a powerful and modern homage to the original it was designed to replace.
Located near the Austrian community of Krumbach lies a little chapel on a hill. Designed by Bernardo Bader Architects and built with the help of more than 100 volunteers, the Kapelle Salgenreute is based on the 200-year-old chapel it was built to replace. Free of ornamentation, it features a high-ceilinged nave made entirely of silver fir, and an all-white apse with a vertical window that looks onto the surrounding trees. The chapel’s entrance is made of hammered brass.
At 40 square metres, the timber construction is supported by a large stonework plinth. As with old farmhouses in the area, its larch wood facade will darken from the sun over time – black in the south, silver-grey in the north. With few windows and a steeply pitched roof, the Salgenreute chapel cuts a clean and striking figure.
