During my stage in New Yok at Z-A STUDIO, we won a competition for a CHAPEL in Central Park:

Built to enable 24 couples to be married free of charge in July 2011 in celebration of the Marriage Equality Act of New York, the KISS Pop-Up Chapel by Z-A Studio won the Architizer + Pop Up Chapel competition. As a literal gesture, the structure is composed of two separate parts, made of the same DNA, but layered differently. Essentially, two unique individuals that when joined together create a stable entity that is more than the sum of its parts. More images and architects’ description after the break.

While KISS is a playful structure, it is also abstract. The two separate structures, made of the same DNA but layered differently, are essentially two unique wall sections that when joined together create a stable space that is more than the sum of its parts. KISS gauges contrasting identities, it’s made of rough materials which generate delicate forms, it is sturdy like an elephant and light like a flamingo. KISS was designed in two days, fabricated in three and put together in two hours at the entrance to Central Park. Made of recycled cardboard with the ability to be re-recycled, it is composed of 130 pieces of stacked 96”x18”x2” honeycomb cardboard.

KISS is a symbol of a great and significant moment in New York history. It demonstrates that architecture can have both universal meaning, as a material outcome of a political act, and very personal meaning, as a wedding chapel. Furthermore KISS does all this as a temporary structure which sheds a different light on the importance of permanence in architecture and in particular in religious architecture.