New building of the Catholic Provost Parish Church proposal

Jan 2010

By Sebastian J — Filed under: Religious Architecture , Germany, Kadawittfeldarchitektur

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German architects kadawittfeldarchitektur have shared with us their proposal for the new building of the Catholic Provost Parish Church, St. Trinitatis competition in Leipzig, Germany. Their proposal was finalist in a 2009 competition. You can see more images and architect’s description after the break.

While normally the interior space of the sacred halls is considered remarkable because of its peculiar atmosphere, here the unusual roof and its light effects – as well as the church itself and the church square with its marked urban surroundings – become especially spiritually charged. It yields a site of encounter that encourages dialogue and provides an “added value” to the notion of faith and belief.

The two-part building ensemble leans like an arch into the northern edge of the lot located along the Ring Street (Ringstrasse), creating thereby an intimate yet spacious forecourt to the church with the planned building on Nonnenmühl Lane (Nonnenmühlgasse) to the south. On the one hand, this square remains the forum of the community while offering, on the other hand, a public refuge with ideological “added value.”

[The “tree of life” from the Book of Genesis is metaphorically transferred here onto the construction site: the church abstractly represents a tree trunk basis for a widely cantilevered and visibly leafy canopy that creates fascinating and magical light-effects on the ground as well as around the community forum.]

The overarching concept of the design is to bring the church, the community center, and the open-air forum under one common roof that provides an establishing identity. The funnel-shaped roof dips into the church itself. Like a horizontal church stained-glass window, its translucent panels generate reflections in the liturgical colors red, green, blue, violet, and pink, into the interior of the church as well as on the façade of the parish center and the square.

Cite:
Jordana , Sebastian . "New building of the Catholic Provost Parish Church proposal" 08 Jan 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed 11 Feb 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/46023>

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kudz says:

coop himmelb(l)au is in the church game!

# January 8, 2010 at 11:51

sullka says:

I thought the same, I had to scroll back to re-read the architects name.

# January 14, 2010 at 10:31

Kevin Church says:

I'm glad that the Catholic Church has solved world hunger and infant mortality and can spend the money on this building: http://is.gd/5VbL6.

# January 8, 2010 at 13:21

dan says:

Holy @#$*

What a strong and simple idea!

# January 8, 2010 at 12:46

Timotheus says:

strong and simple? what ever happened with basic liturgical insight? Is this a Catholic church? This project might be anything by reading the function into a popular form-language. Yet, this cannot be the case with any shape containing service to God – service to people. The Vatican Council (1962-1965) was clear on liturgical design, and gave a lot of room to experiment with classical forms of church-architecture. I thought we were finished experimenting with liturgy and back to the core of it: the Eucharist.
This project: nice ‘design’ but not a ‘sign’ to what happens inside of it and to which it refers sacramentally. Put the words “contemporary museum” on it, and you might have what you need: a semi-durable building which can be used in any way.

# January 9, 2010 at 06:05

tim says:

allmann sattler wappner´s proposal is way stronger!

http://www.allmannsattlerwappner.com/#/de/projekte/detail/120/

# January 9, 2010 at 10:32

RGoldschmidt says:

kudz, that isn’t the BMW Welt, is GOT Welt now. So don’t be uppset because God is driveing a BMW and it has the same taste at His house to. :)) (Now probably all the christian will be against me, but don’t wory, there is no religion)

# January 9, 2010 at 14:27

carlos herrera says: