This chapel is a study in elegance and juxtaposition. Visitors enter through a maze of textured brick walls leading to the central structure: a milky cube clad in perforated metal skin. By day, the building presents a blank white facade, but after dark, glowing windows appear through the screen. Interiors are finished with such simple, evocative materials as concrete and charcoal-hued brick, while the pitched ceiling is adorned with wooden slats. Gleaming pendant lamps hang from its trusses – the only showy flourish in this minimalist masterpiece.

Project: Suzhou Chapel

Location: Suzhou, China

Firm: Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, China

Team: Rossana Hu and Lyndon Neri with Jerry Guo, Shirley Hsu, Brian Lo, Maia Peck, Simin Qiu, Begona Sebastian, Dana Wu and Nellie Yang