Religious Architecture

[Dr.T]

SYNAGOGUES (VI)

Park Synagogue East
Cleveland Heights. Pepper Pike, Ohio. USA

... steel frame box clad ...

Architect
CENTERBROOK

DESCRIPTION

... The building is a simple steel frame box clad in a stick and panel mosaic of copper cladding. Three large organic shapes burst from the box - a Jerusalem stone clad sanctuary and two great copper-covered canopies leading to a two-story lobby. These two entrances of equal importance - one for the school, the other for the sanctuary, library, and offices - bend towards each other in a gesture of welcome and blessing.

... The sanctuary is surrounded inside and out by gently curving, monumental stone walls. The stone is coursed in large horizontal bands reminiscent of primordial construction of early Jerusalem temples. Chapel daylight comes indirectly from four edges, giving it a soft glow for quietude and solace. While this building is straightforward for the sake of economy, its age-old materials and extraordinary light

CREDITS

Photos and Technical Information courtesy of:
centerbrook.com
scott frances

[Dr.T]

... Let´s talk about 21st CENTURY´s CHURCHES (XXVIII)

AMISTAD CHAPEL
UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
Radisson Hotel, Cleveland. Ohio. USA

... house church concept come back to the religious architecture ...
Architect
CENTERBROOK

DESCRIPTION

... Church Houses were the first places of formal worship for early Christians. They offered not only a place for worship, but also a place of hospitality for sojourners from out of town. This concept was deemed appropriate for the world headquarters of the United Church of Christ as it relocated from New York City to a nine-story, turn-of-the-century office building in downtown Cleveland. Once the Church had settled into their administrative offices in the existing building, the architects were asked to design a new hotel, meeting house, and chapel to complete the concept of Church House.

... The existing building occupied the north half of the site bounded by Prospect Avenue. The south half of the site, on which the hotel would be built, was a parking lot bounded by Huron Street with abutters to the east and west. The chapel would occupy a renovated portion of the ground floor of the existing building. Connecting the two would be the new Meeting House and an outdoor garden and fountain. During construction, the abutting building to the west was purchased and joined to the hotel.

... The Radisson Hotel at Gateway is a full service public hotel with special arrangements for members of the United Church of Christ arriving from around the world. It has 142 rooms with 215 beds and the full range of meeting rooms, conference rooms, banquet rooms, and restaurants.

... The Meeting House, with its New England Congregationalist spire, overlooks the garden and provides the Church with a large gathering space and the hotel with an additional conference room.

...The Amistad Chapel occupies a pre-existing two-story space cleared of its original mezzanine level. Existing masonry walls, facing both Prospect Avenue and the new garden court, were also removed and replaced with glass storefronts that restored the original turn-of-the-century street facade. The existing column grid of the old building had to be maintained for structural concerns and incorporated into the oval. The life of the city outside and the life of the congregation within were thus joined together, fulfilling the major liturgical goal of the worship space. A public exhibit space surrounds the chapel to further this goal of integration.

TECHNICAL DRAWING

CREDITS

centerbrook.com
radisson.com

[Dr.T]

SYNAGOGUES (VII)

The Congregation of Ner Tamid Synagogue.
Daily chapel
San Francisco, California. USA

... divine details ...

LOCUS Architect

DESCRIPTION

... The Ner Tamid Synagogue required a small chapel for daily prayers. The chapel focus is the bimah, akin to an altar, where the Torah scrolls are held in a hovering wood ark, reminiscent of the Old Testament Ark that housed the Ten Commandment tablets.

... The ark hangs from a steel armature supported by anthropomorhic wood buttresses, evoking the men who carried the Ark through the desert in biblical times. Suspended above the bimah’s limestone floor, the ark is centered directly over a shallow depression filled with sand from Israel. Figurative “men,” the wood buttresses, carry the ark on their shoulders across a figurative “desert,” sand brought from “The Holy Land” by synagogue members.

... This metaphor is completed by attention to daylight. The ark is backlit, frameless panels of sandblasted glass, creating a halo of glowing light symbolizing the “Schinah,” or spirit of God. With the neighborhood surroundings thus obscured, yet the ark still basking in abundant light, the figurative desert is further evoked.

... The congregation of Ner Tamid Synagogue, called for a small chapel for daily prayers. An alternate chapel offered a more intimate setting, desirable as the main sanctuary, with over 300 seats, was awkward for a small group of 15 people. This small chapel is located adjacent to the main sanctuary, in what was an existing rectangular anteroom. The focus of the room is towards the bimah (akin to an altar), where the torah scrolls are held in a hovering wooden ark reminiscent of the Ark in the Old Testament where the Ten Commandment tablets were housed. The ark hangs from a steel armature, supported by wooden anthropomorphic buttresses. The ark is suspended over a shallow depression in the raised limestone floor of the bimah, which contains sand from “The Holy Land” brought back by members of the congregation. The ark hangs in front of three glowing panels of day lit obscured glass, surrounded with light to symbolize the “Schinah” or spirit of God.

CREDITS
locusarchitecture.com

[Dr.T]

... Let´s talk about 21st CENTURY´s CHURCHES (XXIX)

DONAU CITY CHURCH
Donaucitystraße 2, 1220, Bezirk, Vienna. Austria

... perhaps the first religious architecture's masterpiece in 21st century ...

Heinz Tesar

DESCRIPTION

... Fine materials, precise forms and a theatrical play of light blend together to make the new Roman Catholic church at the east entrance of Donau-City glow like a jewel box. The design of the compact cube is defined by two contrasting colored shells and liturgically symbolic forms. Round windows act not only as a connecting element but also as intermediaries between the inner space and the outer world.

... Slightly recessed into the ground, the building is rotated diagonally to the primary axis of Donau-City. A round plaza separates the church from a bank that is situated at the beginning of the diagonal. An adjacent grass stairway for outdoor events, under which the sacristy is situated, completes the form of the plaza.

... Large, gleaming black panels of chrome steel cover the outer wall of the edifice, as well as the roof, which becomes a fifth facade and is seen as such by the tenants of the surrounding high rise buildings. Square glass panels, recessed into the upper corners of the cube, complete its cruciform shape. The geometry of the building – an eight sided cross – symbolizes the eighth day of the Resurection of Christ. During the day, shifts of light and moods of weather can be experienced in the interior space through the round windows, differing in size. At night these windows allow for the outer world to be integrated into the atmosphere of the mass. The handcrafted birchwood interior was designed by Heinz Tesar.

TECHNICAL DRAWING

CREDITS

Photos courtesy of:
Herbert Schwingenschögl
Fleming Skude
Jan K. Knapp/Panoramio

Technical drawing courtesy of:
Heinz Tesar

[Dr.T]

SYNAGOGUES (VIII)

Synagogue of Graz
David-Herzog-Platz 1, 8020 Graz, Austria

... recalling again the Holocaust ...
Architect
Jörg & Ingrid Mayr

DESCRIPTION

... The new building is to remind predecessor, including the size ratio of the old synagogue in the draft were authoritative. The basic geometric body cube and sphere describe a central space and thus determine the outer appearance, but also the interior of the new synagogue. The structural design of the glass dome consists of 12 steel columns that the 12 tribes of Israel symbolize. They are paired and connected by arches in the dome in David Stern united. The glasses were the dome with Hebrew texts from the Old Testament printed.

... The two main elements, the Almemor (Bima) and the Holy loading, was in the draft special attention. The Almemor on which the Torah is read, takes the middle of the Central Area. The community gathers around it. The glass Almemor is on the memorial stone of 1988 and will be built through the glass dome of the incident light highlighted. The Holy loading with the Torah - is rolling in a two-stage elevated niche in the eastern wall.

... The two sides usable lectern is located in the central axis between Almemor and Holy loading. The bank ranks with folding seats offer space for 100 people and are on three sides by the Almemor arranged. In the south, west and north around a loft with 45 seats for female community members the main room. Through the cantilevered extensions, the spacious loft, the room also lit and the outer appearance sculptural richer.

... In the West, a lobby with a staircase grown. The basement and the outdoors are also connected by an elevator. In the basement are a hall with cloakroom and toilets, adjoining rooms and a hall divisible housed. Here was a space for lectures, religious education, exhibitions and invitations of the Jewish community was created.

TECHNICAL DRAWING

CREDITS

Technical Drawing courtesy of:
Jörg & Ingrid Mayr

Photos courtesy of:
Seiichi Furuya
Angelo Kaunat

[Dr.T]

SYNAGOGUES (IX)

The Cymbalista Synagogue
and Jewish Heritage Center
Campus of Tel Aviv University. Israel

... a place where the religious and the secular can meet ...

MARIO BOTTA

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Project:
1996
Built date:
1998
Location:
Campus of Tel Aviv Univesity
Client:
Paulette and Norbert Cymbalista
Surface area
800 m²

DESCRIPTION

... A place for prayer and a place for discussion: a synagogue and lecture hall, a place where the religious and the secular can meet. This was the mandate, which Mario Botta received from Paulette and Norberto Cymbalista when they commissioned him to construct a new building on the campus of Tel Aviv University. In today’s world, architects rarely receive commissions with goals as clear and precise as the ones in this project: to build two spaces that are separate in function but unified in design and to express the need for spirituality that is shared by all people.

... The Cymbalistas specified that the building has two connecting separate and distinct areas. As such, the design incorporates a dual image of two towers linked by a ground floor lobby where the services are located. The two squared-based foundations of the towers rise into a conoid, which then becomes a circle at roof level. Both towers are constructed using the same materials (Pietra Dorata “gilded” Tuscany stone inside, Verona stone outside) and both interiors are top-lighted in exactly the same way. Thus, they generate identical geometrical spaces designed for different functions, just as a two-headed creature presents a mysterious duality of possible meanings and functions.

SKETCH and TECHNICAL DRAWING

CREDITS

Sketch and Technical Drawing courtesy of:
botta.ch

Photos courtesy of:
botta.ch
Pino Musi

[Dr.T]

... Let´s talk about 21st CENTURY´s CHURCHES (XXX)

MONASTERY OF OUR LADY OF NOVY DVUR
Dobrá Voda 20,
364 01 Toužim. Czech Republic

... minimalist monastery for minimalist life ...

JOHN PAWSON

DESCRIPTION

... The monastic cloister has been likened to an enclosed city, its many sub-programmes typically including the functions of church, home, office, school, workshop, guesthouse, hospital and farm. Not only is a monastery’s programme demanding, its patterns of use are intricate. Monks lead highly structured lives, with each day ordered around a repeating sequence of services and the rising and setting of the sun. The success of monastic architecture rests as much in the way it accommodates the everyday rituals of the body as it does the rituals of religion: a monastery is both a house of God and house for men.

... In 1999 the abbot of the Cistercian abbey of Sept-Fons in Burgundy commissioned John Pawson to design a monastery for a new community of forty Trappist monks in Bohemia. The location for this the first monastery to be built in the Czech Republic since the fall of communism was a remote 100-acre site set in woodland and incorporating a dilapidated baroque manor house with runs of derelict agricultural buildings framing a courtyard.

... John Pawson’s scheme had a number of powerful contexts to negotiate, ranging from the existing structures on the site to historically based ideas of what a Cistercian monastery should look like. Key early questions centred on issues of where to break new ground and where to work within existing frameworks. The first task was to identify the functional and aesthetic values which define the core of Cistercian monastic life and then to generate the best possible expression of these core qualities, given the time, the place and the available means – the turn of the millennium, an abandoned farm with baroque components in rural Bohemia and the monks’ restricted budget.

... The remarkable consistency of the Cistercian Order’s building programme is the result of a comprehensive blueprint drawn up in the twelfth century by St Bernard of Clairvaux. This blueprint not only laid out the various territories of the monastery, but was also specific its aesthetic requirements, placing emphasis on the quality of light and proportion, on simple, pared down elevations, restrained detailing and spatial clarity. Pawson’s aim has been to remain true to the spirit of St Bernard’s programme, expressing the Cistercian spirit with absolute precision, in a language free from pastiche, while introducing some new and distinctive vocabulary - the cantilevered cloister, for example, which has no precedent in Cistercian architectural history.

... The many challenges of the Novy Dvur project reflect the truth that authentically simple environments are almost inevitably the outcome of complex architectural processes. Pawson’s scheme retains and restores the baroque manor house and creates three wings of entirely new architecture on the footprint of the old. The material palette is characteristically restrained, with plaster, concrete, timber and glass predominating. A quiet rigour is manifest at every junction, in the exactness with which glass meets stone, curve encounters plane and views are framed. In keeping with Cistercian aesthetic preoccupations, effects of light read as essential components of the fabric of the architecture, being used variously to add precision, drama and a sense of mystery to the experience of the spaces.

SKETCH

TECHNICAL DRAWING

MOCK-UP

RENDERING

AERIAL PHOTOS

PRESS

>>... Five years ago, John Pawson, the minimalist British architect known for championing the least-is-more look, was hired by a group of brown-robed Cistercian monks from France to build a monastery in the Czech Republic.
... The result, the Novy Dvur monastery, will be dedicated today and the public will have free access to it and its church for the first and only time; hundreds of people are expected to attend.

... The starkly white building of cast and polished concrete, plaster and wood is grafted onto the back of an 18th-century manor house that floats gently on a lushly rolling Bohemian landscape. The building, which includes a glassed-in cloister and a dormitory for 40, will be home to 23 monks, about 10 of them Czech, who are relocating from the Sept-Fons abbey in France.
... For the project, Mr. Pawson spent a week living with the monks, whose order was founded in France in 1132. The monks, who have made a commitment to live in poverty and in silence, rise several times during the night for prayer. Mr. Pawson rose with them, washed dishes when they washed dishes, and watched them negotiate tight corners in their voluminous robes. He also interviewed the monks about their daily routines. (There is no ban on essential communication.) They told him, for instance, that the church had to have a bell tower. They also said that some brethren snore heavily. (Mr. Pawson gave them their bell tower and designed a sound shield for part of the dormitory.)

... The cloister passageway was a challenge because the monks wanted that area, which connects their daytime and nighttime activities, all on one level, and the site was steeply sloping. The long, vaulted cloister is thus, at one point, a full story above ground. By cantilevering the barrel vault šver the passageway, which is lined with glass Windows, Mr. Pawson was abie to eliminate the need for columns. He is especially pleased with a sculptured cast-concrete channel at the base of the elongated Windows that collects rainwater. The trough throws glints of reflected sunlight into the vaulted ceiling.

... The monks will eventually enter into one of their traditional modes of low-key entrepreneurship. The Cistercians, already known for their farming and jŠrn making, are thinking of bottling water Ñ the famous Marienbad spa is nearby Ñ or even making hand cream. Mr. Pawson will design a guesthouse, sheep shed and workshops for them as well.
... He fully appreciates the significance to getting everything right: "With a private house, you always get involved with the nitty-gritty," he said. "But usually the homeowners go away sometime for holidays or they eventually sell the house. With monks, they are never, ever going to leave, not even to visit town. The monastery is their entire world." <<

A Minimalist Chapel Opens in the Czech Republic
Julie V Iovine
The New York Times
02 September 2004

CREDITS

Photos, Technical Drawing, Renders, Mock-up and Sketch courtesy of:
johnpawson.com

Photos monks and inside monastery courtesy of:
novydvur.cz

[Dr.T]

... Let´s talk about 21st CENTURY´s CHURCHES (XXXI)

HOLY POPE GIOVANNI XXIII CHURCH
Seriate, Bergamo. Italia

... church stone clad ...

MARIO BOTTA

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Project: 1994/2000
Construction: 2001-2004
Location: Paderno-Seriate, Bergamo, Italy
Client: Parish of S.S. Redentore, Seriate Bergamo
Site supervision: Guglielmo Clivati,
Seriate Area: 17,000 m²
Built area: 2,137 m²
(Church 741 m²; Centre 1,396 m²)

DESCRIPTION

... The new church dedicated to Holy Pope Giovanni XIII is located close to the 17th century church of San Alessandro Martire in the suburb of Paderno-Seriate south of Bergamo . Residence built in re- cent years characterize the surrounding and borderlines of the road connecting Seriate to Bergamo . In the planning of the new building the old church defines the north-western limit of a rectangle facing the new church, while on south-east a long one storey building houses the living spaces of the parish priest and a few other rooms ending towards the countryside with the oratory and the catechism classrooms on the first floor.

... The church with the squared ground floor is the center of the whole project site with a side length of 25 meters and a height of 23 meters. The bearing structure is in rein- forced concrete, the facades are clad in natural stone slabs of Stone di Verona (split slabs),while the interior walls are covered with panels of gilded wood (similar to the technique of gilded frames).The interior space offers itself as a one and only volume shaped by the lateral wall, light flows in down along the walls from the four roof skylights. The same Verona stone characterizing the buildings exterior is also used, polished, in the interior as a continuity of the whole flooring shaping the plinth of the walls and the liturgy furniture. A stone clad twin apse completes the church space and offers a sculptural work with a crucifixion scene realised within the stone size of the cladding by the Italian artist Giuliano Vangi.

TECHNICAL DRAWING

GALLERY OF PICTURES

CREDITS

Photos, Technical Drawings and Information courtesy of:
botta.com
archimagazine.com

[Dr.T]

MOSQUES of the WORLD (I)

SHEIKH ZAYED BIN SULTAN
GRAND MOSQUE
Abu Dhabi, UAE

... Dalla moda di Versace all' Islam:
due architetti italiani «firmano» la moschea di Abu Dhabi ...

Architect:
SPATIVM
Lorenzo Carmellini & Rocco Magnoli

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Design
Tractebel (1995-2001)
Halcrow Group (2001-2002)
SPATIVM(2002-2007)
Main contractor
Impregilo S.p.A.
Co-contractor
Arabian Construction Company w.l.l.
Six Construct Ltd.
Formwork
PERI L.L.C.
Project management
Halcrow Group
Construction material used:
Reinforced concrete

DESCRIPTION

... Opening in Autumn 2007, Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque will be one of the largest Mosques in the world; able to accommodate more than 30,000 worshipers.

... Named after His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the late President of the UAE, the structure covers an area of more than 22,000 square metres and some 210,000 cubic metres of concrete and 33,000 tonnes of steel reinforcement was used in its construction.

... The beautiful Mosque is completely clad in marble and also features intricate Islamic decoration and carvings as well as extensive landscaping works. The architectural design of the mosque as a landmark building focused on the factors that would make a lasting impression on the worshipper

GALLERY

POWER POINT

CLICK HERE

PDF DOCUMENT

CLICK HERE

CREDITS

Power Point and PDF Document courtesy of:
spatium.it
Technical Information courtesy of:
structurae.de
Photos Description courtesy of:
pbase.com/Scatts
pbase.com/Philipp Holzmann
Photos Gallery at construction Mosque courtesy of:
halcrowgroup.com
Photos Gallery at completion Mosque courtesy of:
pbase.com/Muhammad Imran Akram

[Dr.T]

LE CREATION DES ESPACES MUSEOGRAPHIQUES
DU DEPARTAMENT DES ARTS DE L'ISLAM
Louvre Museum. Paris. France

...Louvre draws a veil over artistic neglect with bold new Islamic wing ...

MARIO BELLINI & RUDY RICCIOTTI

DESCRIPTION

... ’’The Cour Visconti will not be covered but will, in fact, remain visible’’: this is the architectural decision declared by the architects Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti in order to achieve a “gentle and non-violent integration” of a decidedly contemporary architectural design within a historical place. The collections will be displayed over an area of roughly 3,500 metres square, subdivided into only two levels. The first, at courtyard level, will house works from the 7th to the 10th centuries while the second, in the basement, or rather the “new” ground floor, will exhibit works from the 11th to the 19th centuries along with the prestigious collection of carpets. The new museum areas will be covered by an “Iridescent Cloud” which, emanating a diffused glow, will float airily over the museum exhibition space. Thanks to this “luminescent covering” it will be possible from inside the new museum area to see the facades of the courtyard outside. From inside the exhibition rooms, the visitor will be able to admire the play of folds and undulations in the covering which will add a poetic dimension to the overall effect.

... Natural light will be diffused by the covering “Veil”, the iridescent skin of which will be treated so as to graduate the intensity and avoid glare. In high summer, the level of light in the exhibition spaces will not exceed the lux level required for the proper conservation of the artifacts on display and the comfort of visitors. On the lower level, it will be possible to catch a glimpse of the “Veil” from a number of points thanks to openings in the floor above along the perimeter of the courtyard, thus confirming the “Veil” in its role as unifying element between the collections

CREDITS

Rendering and Moc-up courtesy of:
louvre.fr
mariobellini.com
rudyricciotti.com

[Dr.T]

MEMORIAL of the DEPORTATION
Railway Station, Borgo San Dalmazzo. Italy.

... the long trip to Auschwitz ...

Architect
Studio KUADRA
Manuel Giuliano

DESCRIPTION

... The project of the Memorial of the Deportation born in the city of Borgo San Dalmazzo, falls within the Interreg project "Paths of Memory" to recount the events through historical places. The story that keeps Borgo San Dalmazzo, winds from its old train station, located a short distance from the former barracks of the mountain, which was the concentration camp at the service of the Nazi plan identifying information removed.

... On tracks gathered the fate of 329 Jewish foreigners lined up in front of rail cars that carried them to extermination camps in Europe. On 21 November 1943 were stored on the ramp to reach close in goods wagons, the first concentration camp of Drancy, near Paris, and then Auschwitz. Came from all over Europe: Polish Jews, French, Austrian, Belgian, Turks, Romanians, Slovaks, Lithuanians, Hungarians, Croats, Germans, Greeks who fled through France after long journeys of hope. They had found refuge in the Alpine valleys in the area, until the mopping led them in the concentration camp, where spent more than two months before their existence was finally broken: only 18 of them did return. On 15 February 1944, like them, the other 26 men, women, children Jews, mostly Italians, departed from this station, directed at Fossoli di Carpi, where then reached Auschwitz and Buchenwald, only two of them survived.

... At the beginning of the eighties, the municipality got three wagons quite similar to those used for the deportation to place on a blind alley near the station as the first commemoration of intent. At the foot of these goods wagons arose the new memorial. As a quay for accessing convoys, surrounded by boulders of varying size, the concrete platform runs parallel to the tracks by defining a wide area of respect. On it the names of deportees are presented one by one, as marked by the entry in the list of those who called them on their journey longer. Standing, the silhouettes stand out in STEEL CORTEN that make up the personal data of the very few that survived is almost a gloomy caption to coaches. Different height, as dissimilar in stature were men, women and children who are shaking in those winter days, testimony to the tragedy that is consumed here. Their feet on the base, the endless list of names of those who have not returned more, walking among them, places in line, parallel to the tracks consumed by rust, is how to break the ranks of those men who, in strict order, attesero getting on trains.

... There are, in the geography of a country, points of memory that more than other leading printed names and dates of a common history, are to remind you who you are forwarding the sense of events able to score consciences. Today, their names, everyone in the field or on foot, Italian and foreign, come to be collected around the track. Next to each, indicating the country of origin and age recorded at the date of entry into areas: reading history is to imagine how those faces. Stories are reconstructed from option of blanks and steel structures that will break the silence: the objects are talking, their presence to witness a life saved, failure to order a recount. The family ties break: only someone is standing, surviving, of entire families, the names of some nuclei remain completely recorded on land, erased entirely. There is no concession to the rhetoric of memory: just the facts, names, the story of a journey of hope broken forever. Approach to this land, away from highways pathways, it seems strange to many. Significant steps through the memory, the places where the Resistance was born, the signs of a quieter story defense with pride and humility from the people here. In the evening, when the lights that split the base of the memorial project long shadows on the tracks, apparently to see them live, these men lost, lengthen their mark on earth. All in a row as then. A final appeal before leaving for a long trip.

CREDITS

Photos and Technical Information courtesy of:
studiokuadra
europaconcorsi.it

[Dr.T]

... Let´s talk about 21st CENTURY´s CHURCHES (XXXII)

THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Via Galbani, Poggibonsi. Italy

... Modern Classicism ...

CARLO FANTACCI

DESCRIPTION

... The Church of the Holy Spirit, conceived as an organization is measured in turn unit of measurement units and ordering the same block. Access located in, said the transition from the material world to the spiritual world.

... This step is further underlined by changing the shape: the square outside shape, becomes octagon, which itself at the center of the building, the circle becomes a form of divine perfection.

... The travertine floor sanded open pore and cement pillars, with their meager appearance and almost brutal, is the bond that people have with the land, and thus with the matter, however, the vertical development of these elements does symbolize the desire to move to a more spiritual life.

... The walls are plastered white, so that the entire structure idue orders through windows, it permeate light, widespread and resplendent, that the dematerialisation places up to almost disappear at the top, their physical.

... The ceiling, made with laminated wood beams penetrate leaves a cross of light that is reminiscent of a great barbecue, a symbol of the contrast between being a prisoner of matter and the desire to rise to God. The bell tower is an architectural element that is light the essence of a form.

SKETCH

TECHNICAL DRAWING

MOCK-UP

CREDITS

europaconcorsi.com
carlofantacci.it

[Dr.T]

... Let´s talk about 21st CENTURY´s CHURCHES (XXXIII)

St. JOHANNES CATHOLIC CHURCH
GEROLDSWIL. SWISS

... new interior design ...

STEMMLE ARCHITEKTEN

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Built date: 2004-2007
Lighting desing: Nachtaktiv

DESCRIPTION

... The church, originally built in 1972 by architect Walter Moser, has been given a new glass roof and interior lighting scheme as part of the refurbishment.

... The Catholic Church in Geroldswil emerged in 1972 as part of the newly created town centre. The spatial concept of the architect Walter Moser, the most versatile usable House plan is more topical than ever. The poor condition of the roof and the installations, however, a comprehensive redevelopment.

... That led to the opportunity to daylight lead to redesign. The dark materialization of the 70s, swallowed too much light and had a little more pleasant atmosphere. The aim of the restructuring was to a large proportion of daylight a space of silence to create. Thus, the church is not only open for events, but also serves to Kraftschöpfen for everyday or just sit down, off.

... The key element of the new design determines the central area of the church. The highest part of the space was equipped with a new glass roof eingedeckt. Among them are 17 pairs arranged acrylic panels with a surface mattierter daylight filters and cause a meditative mood light in the course of a day is constantly changing. During the night, these integrated LED illuminated by so delicate and light body. Light-lines lighten the side concrete walls and let the entire roof float.

... The new travertine floor completes the smooth materialization in warm hues. With the completion of renovation work has Geroldswil again a versatile usable house, the widest possible range of users.

TECHNICAL DRAWINGS

CREDITS

Technical information courtesy of:
stemmlearchitekten.ch
dezeen.com/Marcus Fairs

Photos courtesy of:
stemmlearchitekten.ch
nachtaktiv.li
dezeen.com

[Dr.T]

... Let´s talk about 21st CENTURY´s CHURCHES (XXXIV)

PROVIDENCE BAPTIST CHAPEL
Colerne, Wiltshire. England. UK

... contemporary tin tabernacle ...

Architect
JONATHAN TUCKEY

DESCRIPTION

... Jonathan Tuckey Design have been granted planning permission for the extension of a grade II listed Baptist chapel in Colerne, Wiltshire. The 19th Century chapel which has been converted into a single family dwelling, will provide the living accommodation while the new addition to the rear will provide bedrooms and bathrooms overlooking the drystone walled garden.

... Conceived as a shadow of the existing chapel, the silhouette of the new building, echoes the simple nature of the existing bath stone structure.The design was executed in close consultation with the North Wiltshire District Council and makes use of changes of level to keep the overall height of the building as low as possible.

... The timber cladding used to clad all walls and the roof, is a direct reference to the tin tabernacle churches, which are vernacular to the area. Alongside the solarised windows it provides a material that is both sympathetic to the location and yet strikingly contemporary.

... The design encompasses a number of sustainable features, utilising rainwater harvesting, with a composite timber and recycled newspaper insulation construction.

–
TECHNICAL DRAWING

CREDITS

Technical Drawing and Renders courtesy of:
jonathantuckey.com
dezeen.com

[Dr.T]

... Let´s talk about 21st CENTURY´s CHURCHES (XXXV)

LA ESTANCIA CHAPEL
Cuernavaca. Mexico

... conceived in a box and compressed to form a peaked roof ...

Architect
BNKR
arquitectura

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Surface: 117 sq.m.
Budget: $140,000
Start Date: July 2007
Completion Date: November 2007
Client: Promotora Amates

DESCRIPTION

... The owners of the colonial-era gardens in Cuernavaca, just south of Mexico City, had built up a business offering wedding packages to young couples, and originally wanted an ersatz colonial-style chapel structure in which to host the ceremonies.

... BNKR persuaded them otherwise, and set to work devising a modern, functional yet undeniably romantic setting for the events. Initial plans for a glass-walled building were opposed by the client, who claimed - quite reasonably - that it would heat up throughout the day and make ceremonies sweaty and unbearable. But BNKR stuck to their guns, explaining that their solution involved a latticework of opaque glass beams, arranged vertically and set apart from one another to create a 'veil' running around the entire structure that allows air to move freely. Above this sits a solid roof, its shape devised by the shearing, pinching and shifting of the original box-shaped volume, forming a simple yet elegant shallow pitch.

... The end wall contains a cross set into the glass fins, while the floor is a humble white concrete slab (toned down from the original marble due to budget considerations). The structure replaces the canvas tent that used to be used for the ceremonies, yet retains an alluring air of impermanence and lightness.

CREDITS

Technical information courtesy of:
bunkerarquitectura.com
designbuild-network.com
yankodesign.com

Photos courtesy of
ifitshipitshere.blogspot.com