NOTRE DAME

Notre Dame Cathedral became an iconic church at the beginning of the gothic era and gained great attentions for the development of architecture and the world. This church is the center of religious tourism destinations not only for Christians but throughout the world who come to Paris because of their long history. When a great fire broke out, once more this church received special attentions from all over the world.

 

The "Fading Memory" theme became the main concept of Notre Dame Cathedral restoration by capturing the world attention to this church. Reminiscent without losing the track. The first phenomenon was the beginning of the establishment of this church by trying to maintain the original shape of this building. The second is capturing the fire incident through material and color. Shape of the roof remains the original one, but it is minimized from aesthetic additions to optimize the function.

 

Transparent material (polycarbonate sheets are used because they are more environmentally friendly than glass) is used as the main alternative roof cover to show where the condition of a charred original roof is completely replaced by new material. Red is the main color of the roof as a remembrance of the huge fire once occurred to this church, so the terrific incident of this church will always be kept in people’s mind and becomes a living building with its stories. The red roof illuminates the inner space which gives the meaning that church must be brave in calling goodness to help others. The main structure of the roof uses black steel material. The color is used as a symbol of the old roof structure which charred during a fire.

 

The shape of church tower is minimized and coated with gold as tower sheath. The golden tower shows hopes and dreams. The cross symbol shows the struggle of life to always be close to God. The value to be conveyed is that after a bad thing (fire), there will always be a determination to achieve good things to continue moving forward.

 

In the interior, the "rib vault" structure is preserved but the cover is replaced with arc wire mesh following the old structure. This concept is applied so that the shape of the construction remains visible but vague because of the perforated wire mesh material. It recalls the blurred memories of this church incident.