Ørestad Church Copenhagen
Danish
architecture studio Henning
Larsen has released its design for Ørestad Church Copenhagen,
the Netherlands
I am reviewing this
project based on seeing it on Jacob Lindley’s blog post concerning studying
design of religious spaces in urban planning and landscape architecture. I appreciated his thoughts on this subject
and there is much that could be studied here on truly religious spaces in
design. I would take that further to
seek to design spaces that point to God the creator and not just religious
spaces in general. Anyone could
use a religious space for their purposes and we would want them to, but the intent of this religious design would be to focus on
what I would say is the one true God and to draw people to him to believe in him and follow him.
Along that line I
will review this church for design of religious urban space.
Orestad Church uses many natural materials and is placed in a natural protected area of the city. These features already draw in this church’s connection to all of creation as it is said that all of creation worships God doing what it is made to do. Observing natural beauty and governing nature through the use of natural materials and design of space is what man was set up on earth to do; stewards of the earth and appreciating the beauty of creation giving glory to God. This is religion.
The simplicity of the forms, materials and design harkens to the architecture and design of the Copenhagen area. The design of the sanctuary uses angles and roof lines to create overhead structure and human scale as well as larger scale drawing the worshiper out of his own space to the divine. The manipulation of light is a design tendency of the area and this church uses light well to wash the space and continue the warm tones of the building.
The paving and exterior spaces flow from building to building, indoor to outdoor through the walls and windows and through the thoughtful courtyard spaces.
The church is
designed as a respite in a city that is not considered religious as this was the
first church built in 30 years.
David, thanks for the shoutout! It's a wonderful project. I like your idea of stewardship as coupled with these flexural communal spaces. And, you're so right, the approach is restrained, refined from something that started out as super complicated, but was realized in an evocative composition. There is a component to this inquiry that increases my hope for public spaces that also have the capacity to bring people to a higher spiritual place.
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