The Church of the Holy Cross / KHR

Architects: KHR arkitekter AS
Location: Jyllinge, Denmark
Project year: 2001-2008
Client: Jyllinge Minighedsråd
Constructed Area: 800 sqm

The church of the holy cross was conceived as part of the landscape around Jyllinge. With its glass façade facing the fjord and a “fishing net” dividing the space of the church, the design clearly takes the history of the place seriously.

A good place to build a church

The place has an emotional power with its spatial topography that seems to make time stand still and let thoughts follow the horizon of the landscape as the link between the earthly horizontal level and the boundless sky that encloses it all. This is a place with many layers far beyond what is physically present. A good place to build a church.

The body of the church was conceived as part of the landscape. From the outside, the volume of the building is experienced as two solid stones that form a composition with ecclesiastical overtones. A composition in which the emphasis is on the nave of the church with the choir in dialogue with the old church to the southeast.

Connecting with the fjord

With its dominating view of the exterior, the interior shape of the church is experienced as an extension of the landscape divided in two – summing up the earthly and the heavenly. The body of the church can be further divided along the line light falls into the interior, using a transparent textile woven with a net structure. This helps when the nave of the church is extended in a northwesterly direction to end in the scenic amphitheatre structure that provides seating for outdoor events.

The central aisle through the church extends out into the intimate scenic space formed naturally between church interior and the amphitheatre structure. This means the church’s ceremonial events can be extended out into the landscape in contact with the fjord and the sky above – a range of elements that combine to create a clear identity for the church in this special place.