Our Lady of the Assumption Parish Church in British Columbia, Canada by Patkau Architects

Article source: Patkau Architects

Our Lady of the Assumption Parish Church is a Roman Catholic Church that seats 700 people in its main space and 100 people in its chapel. The main space and chapel can be joined together to form a single larger space for special events. The site is in Port Coquitlam, a suburban city thirty kilometers east of Vancouver. The new church shares its site with an existing church (which will be converted to a parish hall) and a school.

OLA Centre Nave

• Architect: Patkau Architects
• Name of Project: Our Lady of the Assumption Parish Church
• Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

At the request of the client, the church follows strict liturgical orientation with its main entrance facing west, placing the entrance of the church deep within the site. A landscaped walk leads pedestrians from the street to a plaza at the entrance of the church, a quiet transitional space: a threshold between secular and sacred, quotidian and spiritual. The plaza and landscaped walkway which extend the narthex into the landscape, are commodious and welcoming to the communal assembly and ritual procession characteristic of Roman Catholic worship.

OLA Exterior Abstract

Program

The Second Vatican Council marked a critical point in the development of the Roman Catholic liturgy. Varying architectural interpretations of these liturgical reforms have been investigated in the intervening forty years.

The plan of the church is guided by the simplest and most rigorous interpretation of these liturgical texts. The result is a traditional, processional layout with a strong axial relationship from the primary entrance in the west to the sanctuary in the east. Pews are arranged symmetrically along the axis, facing towards the east.

OLA Exterior Abstract

The sanctuary, flanked by the baptistery and a devotional shrine, is raised and daylit from above. The liturgical and architectural problem of either removing the tabernacle from the sanctuary to a separate chapel or relegating it to one side of the sanctuary is addressed by locating the chapel immediately behind the sanctuary, with both spaces sharing a single tabernacle. Confessionals and sacristies are freestanding volumes either side of the chapel, allowing an uninterrupted perimeter ambulatory containing the Stations of the Cross. The reredos screen that separates the chapel from church proper can open to connect the two volumes when all 800 seats are required.

OLA Exterior Abstract

Construction

As the budget is modest, the creation of an evocative space and form is dependent upon the direct expression of construction. Folded weathering steel shear walls are used to construct church identity. Each exterior face of the folded wall is sized to be fabricated from a single 8’ sheet of weathering steel up to 50’ long. Large scale corrugations at the east and west ends of the nave accommodate deeper structure required by the end conditions. The roof assembly combines triangular steel tubes with the sheet folds to create a highly stable and efficient three-dimensional structure. This single monolithic system affords rapid construction on site and provides a self-finishing, durable and low maintenance exterior.

OLA Exterior Abstract

Space

The folded geometry enlivens the exterior and interior, evoking the depth and rhythm of a traditional arcaded and columnar nave. At the main entrance these recesses form a westwork that flanks the entry doors with a shrine and bell tower. Smaller recesses at the east elevation develop into openings that modulate daylight and provide indirect views from the street to chapel.

Interior volumes are low at both church and chapel entrances. In the church, the volume rises slowly, releasing space into light over the sanctuary. In the chapel, the luminous volume above the sanctuary diminishes rapidly, establishing spatial intimacy. The interior is clad simply with drywall painted a luminous warm white. Light, from the skylight located over the sanctuary and secondary sources deep within the folds of the wall, gives way to shadows and dimness as it models the interior to reveal the order, space and form of the church.

OLA Worm's Eye Closed

OLA Section

OLA Sanctuary

OLA Interior Empty

OLA Interior Empty

Section

Plans

Site

Elevations

Tags: British Columbia, Canada

Category: Church

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