-
Architects: Archipoetry Studio
- Area: 2380 m²
- Year: 2019
-
Photographs:natureimage, Langjin Zhu
-
Lead Architects: Langjin Zhu
Text description provided by the architects. One day back to last September, I was thinking about the beam and pillar again, then wrote down the poem above. Beam and pillar, is there really a substantial difference? I feel there is a blurred boundary. Just like wall and roof, door and window, or bucket arch and arch, to me, they are literally the same. Jinan Changzhuang Church is located in Changzhuang Village,a remote place in the countryside of Jinan, China. The church is situated in the center of a forest and crops which are naturally segregated from the village.
Through deep research on the structure, materials, and natural light of the building，we hope this rural church represents a sacred atmosphere that is silent and calm. Returning to its most simplistic, basic, and natural building space. In terms of architectural form, we started by abstracting current space into a simple and basic building block, and then all the modification is within such a simple block.
The structure was being considered at the beginning of the design process. We aim to present a classical, symmetrical, and rhythmical spatial atmosphere. One of the core design strategies is that we try to eliminate decoration as much as possible. In other words, the interior space is merely the direct expression of building structure.
U-shaped glasses with vertical lines combined with steel cross structure are specially designed to apply in the main facade, visually communicating an upward force to the audience. The candle holder pattern is composed of hand-made stained glass to bring back the tradition. In terms of the exterior wall, we did not follow the traditional white theme but selected the dark color instead. Hoping that the color of the building will be more durable and better integrate into the surrounding environment.
Major interior materials for the main hall are exposed concrete columns and red brick walls. The concave-convex treatment of the brick is not just to create the texture, but also to expose more pores of the brick. So that the brick material will have an added effect of sound absorption. At the same time, we hide the air conditioner and other equipment in the wooden trellis bench on both sides. On top of the functional aspect, this also increases the seating capacity. The design of the solid wooden seats is as simple, practical, and sturdy as possible.
The lighting design of the main hall is one of the design focus. We adopted a more restrained to rational approach. As far as possible, there should be no visible lighting fixture in the main hall, and only light strips are installed on the upper part of the brick walls. At night, the lights on both sides will illuminate the entire roof, which in turn illuminates the entire main hall space. In the daytime, indoor lighting can completely rely on skylights.
At the same time, skylights and side windows crisscross with each other so that the light and shadow of the room will change constantly throughout the time. On the other side, light penetrating through the stained glass together with arrays of beams and columns create a warm but powerful religious atmosphere.
The overall process is not as easy, it consists of many people`s hardworking. From the start of design to the completion of construction, we spare no effort to follow the project for three years and slowly grow up together with the church. We will continue to follow up the post-project in the future, unconditionally.
