An Urban Forest: Sustainable Vernacular Architecture Rooted in Ethiopia’s Sacred Landscape

Project by GIUSEPPE MAZZEO and Stefano Pirazzi

Editor's Choice entry of Eco-Chapel

The growing density of modern cities has steadily weakened the relationship between people, nature, and spirituality. Urban expansion often replaces ecological systems with hard infrastructure, leaving little space for reflection, biodiversity, or community interaction. “An Urban Forest” responds to this condition through a deeply sensitive proposal that merges sustainable vernacular architecture with Ethiopian Orthodox traditions, creating a sacred ecological sanctuary within the urban fabric.

Designed by GIUSEPPE MAZZEO and Stefano Pirazzi, this Editor’s Choice entry for the Eco-Chapel competition transforms the idea of a chapel into something larger than a religious building. The proposal becomes a living forest system, a community space, and a climate-responsive architectural intervention rooted in local culture and environmental awareness.

At the center of the project lies a powerful belief: cities must become alive again. Rather than isolating architecture from nature, the design proposes an immersive forest landscape where buildings and vegetation coexist as one interconnected ecosystem. Inspired by the Ethiopian Tewahedo tradition of chapels hidden within forests, the project reinterprets sacred architecture as an ecological and social experience.

The masterplan introduces a dense urban forest enclosed within a protective perimeter wall. This gesture creates a deliberate separation from the surrounding urban condition, allowing the site to function as a calm, shaded, and breathable sanctuary inside the city. Instead of dominating the landscape, the architecture dissolves into it. Pathways weave gently through vegetation, leading visitors gradually toward ceremonial and communal spaces.

The chapel itself is positioned on the highest natural point of the site after careful analysis of topography and environmental exposure. Existing flat areas and tree clusters informed the placement strategy, minimizing disruption to the terrain while strengthening the spiritual experience of ascending through the forest toward the sacred core.

One of the project’s strongest architectural qualities is its interpretation of Ethiopian Orthodox spatial hierarchy. The design carefully follows the traditional sequence of sacred spaces beginning with the “qitsir,” the ceremonial walled courtyard used for religious gatherings. From there, visitors move into the “qine mehelet,” a transitional zone surrounding the chapel, before finally reaching the “meqdes,” the innermost sacred chamber containing the “tabot.”

This layered progression transforms movement into ritual. Architecture becomes an emotional and spiritual journey shaped by openness, enclosure, shadow, and materiality.

Beyond the chapel, the project integrates a wide range of communal functions that support daily life and social interaction. Meditation areas, workshops, cafés, gathering courtyards, priest residences, and shaded public spaces extend the project beyond worship. These flexible open-air environments encourage the local community to occupy the forest throughout the day for rest, dialogue, education, and contemplation.

The landscape strategy plays a central role in the environmental performance of the proposal. Local arboreal species densely populate the site, forming what the designers describe as a “wild garden.” This vegetation acts as a green lung for the city, improving air quality while generating cooler microclimates and shaded outdoor areas. The forest also establishes a gradual transition between the noisy urban surroundings and the calmness of the sacred interior.

Material selection reinforces the project’s ecological philosophy. The architecture relies heavily on locally sourced and natural materials including bamboo, straw, wood, and stone. Ethiopian vernacular references, particularly Dorze houses and bamboo hut traditions from the Shewa region, inform both construction methods and spatial organization.

The fluid roofscape becomes one of the defining visual elements of the project. Large thatched roofs undulate across the site like a continuous natural canopy, visually blending with the surrounding forest. These roofs are not merely symbolic gestures but highly climate-responsive architectural systems.

The proposal incorporates a double-layer roof assembly to reduce solar heat gain and improve thermal insulation. Combined with lightweight bamboo walls and permeable façades, the building achieves continuous natural ventilation. Air flows freely through the interiors while filtered daylight creates soft, atmospheric spaces throughout the day.

Transparency also becomes an important architectural device. Bamboo screens diffuse sunlight while preserving visual connections to the surrounding forest. The interplay between light, shadow, and texture creates calm and meditative interiors that reinforce the spiritual atmosphere of the chapel.

Inside the sacred chamber, richly colored iconographic walls celebrate Ethiopian Orthodox artistic traditions. These vibrant surfaces contrast beautifully against the restrained natural palette of bamboo, timber, and earth-toned materials. The result is an architecture that feels simultaneously contemporary and deeply rooted in cultural memory.

The project avoids monumentality in favor of intimacy. Rather than imposing a singular object within the landscape, the architecture spreads organically across the terrain, creating courtyards, gathering spaces, and shaded thresholds. This fragmented composition encourages human interaction while maintaining a strong connection to nature.

“An Urban Forest” demonstrates how sustainable vernacular architecture can address contemporary urban challenges without abandoning cultural identity. The project proposes an alternative model for future cities, one where ecological systems, spirituality, and public life are inseparable.

In a time when urban environments increasingly disconnect people from the natural world, this proposal reintroduces architecture as a mediator between community and landscape. Through forests, rituals, climate-responsive design, and local materials, the project imagines a future where cities breathe again and sacred spaces become catalysts for environmental healing.

By combining ecological sensitivity with Ethiopian architectural heritage, GIUSEPPE MAZZEO and Stefano Pirazzi deliver a thoughtful vision of architecture that is not only sustainable but profoundly human.