Overall Experience
St Joseph's Oratory is the result of infectious dream. Founded by Brother André with immediate popular support, the sanctuary grew little by little over time, and through will of the growing congregation. A place of welcome, peace and inspiration, its purpose remains while being constantly updated.
By entering into the inter-dome, the visitor explores a hidden and long inaccessible dimension of the Oratory. This discovery reveals a deeply human adventure, whose cycle is divided into four stages:
1. The rise - Quest and anticipation of a transcendent experience
2. The heights - Sense of accomplishment and elevation
3. The path - Complicity with the constitutive hopes and efforts of the place
4. The foundation - Encounter with the faces that contributed to the humain endevour
The climb (stairs or elevator)
By the elevator, the visitor's ascent embodies in itself a strong sensory moment, composed of the physical sensation of elevation and the sentiment of anticipation. By the stairs, with the added physical effort, the experience is transformed even more clearly into a quest for transcendence.
To accompany the visitor, a sound and light environment marks the stages of his progression, gradually giving it a sublime character. Upon arrival at the top of the interior dome, the visitor feels awaken, receptive - ready for the experience he will experience in the heights.
The heights (oculus)
The summit of the interior dome becomes the interactive theater of an immersive experience, in chiaroscuro, where the light touches the visitor both literally and figuratively. In this inspiring and mysterious environment, projections recall the peculiar luminous effects of religious architecture, arousing a sense of wonder.
Thus is captured for example the daily passage of sun in a chapel, its course across a stained glass, the moving shadow of a column or statue, the momentary illumination of a work of art or the crossing of a ray of light in the space. Here the immersive experience with nature and its representation through the history of art confers a soothing sensation of elevation to the visitor, erasing for a moment the noise of the city and its everydayness.
Analogical to the image of peace and inclusion of the Oratory, the visitor enters into communion with the place, both spiritually and physically; his body itself illuminated at times through the promenade, he projects his shadow on the wall of the outer dome, merging with the projected scene.
The path (ramp)
Going back down the ramp, the spectacle on the outer dome goes on uninterrupted, evolving gradually towards a more terrestrial dimension. In the higher part, opportunistic devices spontaneously encourage plays of hand shadows on the walls. The visitors-interpreters hence develop a sentiment of complicity, pleasure and sense of belonging to the immensity of the immersive space.
Further on, other hands from the past join in, testifying to the hopes and the human labor that forged the place; hands extended, in prayer, represented in the art works of the oratory - statues, stained glass windows, wrought iron -, the gestures of pilgrims and visitors touching the feet of a statue, lighting lanterns, the busy and agile hands of the construction workers.
The Foundation (mezzanine and tambour)
At the bottom of the dome, the human adventure is embodied in the faces of the pilgrims and craftsmen of the Oratory. The faces of the workers who erected the sanctuary and those of the numerous crowds who have visited, plunge into that of the visitor, directly challenging him.
These impressive photographs, covering the circular wall of the tambour, speak of the will behind the pursuit of the dream, the effort behind the realization, the authenticity of the prayers, the diversity of the people, the large attendance of the place and therefore its essential character.
(Competitor's text)
Initial comments
The concept is based on a visit circuit proposing a fast and meditative ascent and a more contemplative descent by the ramp, with 3 moments of flow control. The guiding thread is given by the architectural treatment, the net drapery found in the museum and the inter-dome. The museum concept is based on the central axis of the basilica.
The jury recognizes the evocative power of the proposal, enhanced by a skillful presentation and an experienced team. The jury appreciates the constancy given by the reading of the drapery but questions the forms derived from it and the importance of its use. The jury regrets that this treatment does not translate as clearly to the spiritual plane. The itinerary is clear and well presented but takes into account the entrance to the esplanade, which was cancelled in the addendum. The museum concept does not solve the problem of controlling independent access to the museum and the inter-dome. The mechanical concept is very well worked out, detailed and its demonstration is clear, as are its interventions.
This concept has many qualities and shows a potential of evolution with the customer.
Comments from May 15
Very good presentation showing openness and potential for evolution. Proposal meets the architectural and mechanical aspects of the program. Proposal offers a good overall balance and an integrated museum/entertainment architectural ensemble. Distinctive materiality that retains and ties together the different elements of the existing; a clear strategy but too uniform or overly pervasive. Weakness is the division of the museum area into two zones making access control difficult.
Final Comments
The jury selected this project for the following reasons:
- The quality of the presentation and the expression of the potential for openness for the rest of the brief; the jury perceived a sensitivity to listening on the part of the team.
- The quality of the presentation and the graphic file facilitating the understanding of the project.
- The depth of the analysis of the project in its various components, including the mechanics.
- The ingenuity of the concept thanks to the use of the veil that hides or reveals the existing elements, like an Ariadne's thread unifying the different levels of the Oratory's museum component.
- The promising potential of this guiding idea in terms of its modulation according to location and function.
- The respect of the existing infrastructures and their enhancement by the veil.
- The enhancement of the reserves through the proposed views of the white reserve. The evocation of a potential of animation independent of the architectural concept.
- The conceptual approach allowing an adaptation of the interventions in time, in a spirit of perenniality; a reversible project.
- A clear, well thought-out and relevant mechanical approach facilitating its integration into the existing building.
- A demonstration of the potential to respect the budget thanks to the simplicity of the architectural gesture.
(From jury report)
(Unofficial automated translation)
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