When Orthodox tradition meets Hemel Hempstead carpentry… This is what…
When Orthodox tradition meets Hemel Hempstead carpentry…
This is what happens when an architect takes on a church project squeezed between a condo and a shed. The Belarusian Memorial Chapel in North London may charm the design world with its CNC-cut ribs and lyrical shadows—but from the standpoint of Orthodox canon, it veers far off the narrow path.
No apse, no narthex, no liturgical axis. The iconostasis is more Zen partition than icon screen. The dome feels like an afterthought—symbolically hollow. This isn’t sacred architecture formed through centuries of liturgical practice; it’s an architectural poem, beautiful but liturgically mute.
As a memorial, it carries deep emotional resonance. As an Orthodox chapel, it lacks the structural theology, the sacred order, and the timeless clarity that define our tradition.
Now—had this been built not as a church, but as a contemplative pavilion or public park sculpture—it would be a marvel. A stunning exercise in timber expression, spatial poetics, and thoughtful craftsmanship.
But sacred architecture must be more than evocative—it must be incarnational.
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