ArchShowcase 
Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. Autobahn Church in Siegerland, Wilnsdorf by schneider+schumacherJanuary 27th, 2015 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: schneider+schumacher In March 2009 schneider+schumacher won a competition run by the Förderverein Autobahnkirche Siegerland e.V, which was founded for the specific purpose of establishing an Autobahn church. The initiative for this project came from Hanneliese and Hartmut Hering, after having visited an Autobahn church in south Germany. Just one glance at the map revealed that a place like this was lacking in the entire Siegerland area, and consequently also along the very busy A 45.  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher
 Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher
 Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher
 Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher The architects took on the project with the same empathy. Under the guidance of Michael Schumacher, it was designed in parallel with schneider+schumacher’s extension to the Städel Museum. The Christian-ecumenical church was realised thanks to numerous donations. Building work began in March 2011, starting with the archaic sculptural concrete foundation slab, which forms the base for the timber-framed church above. The consecration and opening of this building, Germany’s 40th Autobahn church, took place on 26 May 2013.  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher Concept  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher The small Autobahn church offers an opportunity to fulfil these fundamental needs, and provides these in a place where they are arguably most lacking. For a building to make an impact in such surroundings, it needs to talk the same unmistakably direct language (at least on the exterior). Whether approached from afar from the Dortmund direction, or from the motorway service area, the church represents a built version of the motorway church signage. Even though its exterior form is abstract, it still signals in an immediate and direct way: ‘I am a church!’ ”  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher Design From close-up the church appears to grow out of the hillside and visitors enter it via a raised walkway leading to a covered entrance. Once inside, contrary to the expectations raised by the exterior of the building, the design of the interior comes as a surprise. The inner dome opens up to the naturally lit area around the altar, illuminated only from above through the two church spires. The filigree wooden vaulting also displays a finely worked cross-ribbed structure.  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher Construction The majority of the building components were constructed off site, allowing an optimised and shortened on-site assembly period, since the pre-constructed building elements had already been assembled off-site using a special connection system. The timber roof and wall elements are cavity-insulated. The inner and outer faces of the timber members are clad with panels of OSB. The walls of the bridge are halftimbered and the access bridge floor construction is clad on both sides with doublefaced OSB.  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher The entire façade of the church and the connecting bridge was sprayed with white polyurethane damp-proofing material. This protects the outer surfaces of the wood from both the ingress of damp and wear and tear, and gives the church a homogenous appearance. Timber inner dome  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher Once inside the vaulted entrance, the inner dome opens up to the altar. This area is naturally illuminated only via the church tower above. Within the predominantly square ground plan, semi-circular areas created by the inner dome at the edges allow the areas that lie outside the visitor’s line of vision to be used as a sacristy and as supplementary spaces e.g. for chair storage. Interior furnishings They consist of the same material as the timber inner dome. Arranged in this manner, seating, lectern, kneelers and the candlestick form a unit.  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher Solemnly in the presbytery, podium, altar and the backlit cross are painted in a pure white to reflect sunlight and therewith seem dematerialized. Optimising the construction  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher The floor needs anchoring with steel angles only at intermittent intervals. The CAD program was developed beyond its usual planning function into a 3D-printer software program. It was then used to transform the dimension data first calculated for the inner dome to provide a cutting pattern for all the dome parts. Taking account of standard dimensions of OSB boards, the 650 parts of the structural ribs were positioned so as to minimise wastage. Optimising the lighting  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher  Image Courtesy © schneider+schumacher
Contact schneider+schumacher
Tags: Siegerland, Wilnsdorf Categories: Church, Grasshopper, Microstation, Rhino |
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
email
Facebook
Twitter
RSS Feed
