The memorial chapel is located in the beautiful site of J House and frames the view of Kneisse Mountain across the valleys of Mount Lebanon.


This starkly modern chapel is set deep into the rust-colored soil amongst the pines at the southern end of the site. Accessed via a sloping, open-topped sunken Corten steel-clad walkway, which progressively shuts out surroundings encouraging contemplation, the uncluttered interior is a study in contrasts. One half is the chapel proper, a low-lit space appropriate for meditation. The other, dominated by a plate glass window giving onto expansive views of pines and the snow-covered outlines of Mount Kneisse, is more quietly contemplative. Apart from the almost flush rusted roof, the chapel is largely invisible from above while from the front it presents itself as a logical continuation of the garden’s terraced walls.

Meanwhile, the deepening rust on the Corten not only echoes the iron-rich hues of the site’s soil and its outcroppings of Chehhar rock, which is used to wall the gardens, but also blends into the reddish-brown backdrop of the trunks of the pines, many of which are almost a century old

client: Private
architecture: nabil gholam architects
structural design: Serhal Consulting Office
electro-mechanical design: Pierre Dammous & Partners
landscape design: Vladimir Djurovic Landscape Architecture
3D images: nabil gholam architects