Church on the Water

Tadao Ando – Church on the Water, Tomamu, Hokkaido, Japan, 1985-1988

Church on the Water (Japanese: 水の教会) also known as Chapel on the Water is a privately owned wedding chapel in Tomamu, Shimukappu on the island of Hokkaido in Japan. The chapel overlooks a large reflective body of water visible through a large glass window in the Japanese architectural tradition of shakkei.

"You can't just put something new in a place. You have to absorb what you see around you, what exists on earth, and then use that knowledge along with contemporary thinking to interpret what you see." This philosophy of Tadao Ando is always evident in his design, as he is celebrated for the attention he pays to nature and the relationship between the interior and exterior spaces of his buildings.
To the west, the church is surrounded by hills and trees and a resort hotel is located to the east. The church, shaped like two overlapping cubes, overlooks the water that flows down to a small natural river.
The larger of the two cubes serves as a chapel and meets the entrance of the smaller cube with a semicircular spiral staircase. In order to separate the church from the hotel behind it, a long L-shaped wall runs along the south and east of the buildings lining the edge of the pond.
To enter the church, the visitor enters beneath a glass and steel cube at the northernmost end that houses four large concrete crosses that draw the eye upward. The path leads up and around these crosses, then down the dark spiral staircase that connects to the larger cube of the chapel below.
Upon entering the chapel, visitors are struck by the view of the pond, surrounding trees and the hill through the opening glass wall. The other three walls are made of concrete, which also frame a steel cross placed in the center of the pond.

The natural environment around the church enriches the experience, especially in the months between December and April, when the ground is covered in snow.
The chapel is one of the most sought-after wedding destinations for young Japanese women, hosting numerous weddings each year. The large glass wall is mostly closed to protect from the elements, but is open for ceremonies that connect guests with the seemingly endless natural world outside the windows.