Denis Hurley fought for equality of all and social justice. In 1951, at age 31, he became the youngest Catholic bishop in the world and the archbishop of Durban. He retired as archbishop in 1992, becoming chancellor of the University of Natal from 1993 to 1998. He continued to work as parish priest of Emmanuel Cathedral well into his eighties. He was an outspoken opponent of apartheid and a driving force in a 1957 declaration by the bishops of South Africa that described apartheid as “intrinsically evil”. Archbishop Denis Hurley dedicated a great part of his live to defend the rights of the underprivileged, in an extremely difficult and politically turbulent period in the history of this country. The Denis Hurley Centre strives to continue the legacy of Archbishop Denis Hurley.
How to build a chapel in honor of a saint without falling into literal reminiscences?
This was the starting point and the biggest challenge of designing a chapel for the first Argentine saint. The most logical solution was, “designing with Brocherian spirit, folowing the values and the intentions of the priest but without falling in morphologic repetitions”.
The new chapel, set within a vineyard in South Africa, is designed by South-African born Coetzee Steyn of London based Steyn Studio. Its serene sculptural form emulates the silhouette of surrounding mountain ranges, paying tribute to the historic Cape Dutch gables dotting the rural landscapes of the Western Cape. Constructed from a slim concrete cast shell, the roof supports itself as each undulation dramatically falls to meet the ground. Where each wave of the roof structure rises to a peak, expanses of glazing adjoined centrally by a crucifix adorn the façade.
Article source: Architecture for a change (pty)ltd
The community of Chimphamba have been gathering for years in a church building that was near to collapse. The community has also outgrown the dilapidated building.
As part of Youth of Malawi’s involvement in the village in Chimphamba they discussed the possibility of erecting a new space for community gatherings. These types of public buildings are extremely important in rural communities, as they must facilitate regular community gatherings to discus important matters such as food security, community challenges etc. Along with the chiefs of the village, Youth of Malawi asked A4AC to design and manage the build of a new church / community hall.
Buildings of the Gimpo new town, where everything looks as new, clean and as fresh as fishes caught in a milk bottle. Well-structured roads and districts look like a checkerboard that has never been used. Through local communities, this place is where ordinary lives and sentiments have just started to settle down and will attempt to engage with different urban cultures and establish its own identity. The closest church is sitting on a corner site of Unyang-dong, Gimpo. Words like corner, edge and vertex connote the existence of more than one live or surface. The church has a facade divided by two conflicting with each other at the vertex of the site. One is a solid and fragmented concrete, proposed by considering the relationship with apartment residents, and the other is a transparent glass that open views to the vast park and also to the church’s worship services. The chapel structured like the bleachers is designed to increase the capacity of the space built on a compact site. Small rooms are positioned behind of the inclined surface of the bleachers and on the top section of it so that the church can make the best use of its space. Especially the outside stairs connecting the ground and the rooftop works as an important element defining the exterior of church, and the vivid movement of its users makes the church’s architectural statement more dynamic. The rooftop space which can host outdoor worship services is open for church communities as well as for locals. The closest church is a place of worship, a cultural venue and public architecture for the local apartment community which was being choked by commercialism. A rooftop cross can’t be found here, but here the cross is leaning on the wall and speaking with a humble voice. Big resonance stirs among listeners rather than among speakers who deliver a moving story, and the sublimity dwell in intimacy not in hierarchy. The cross descended onto the earth will cast a shadow like a shaded tree and will share a story of life with people on the street.
St John’s Church replaced the original church building dating from 1910.
The new church is a single space, square in plan, and rotated 9 degrees off axis. The interior is defined by a glulam pine structure. Divided into 5 equal bays, the space between each structural grid consists of either glass or larch battens.
Located on a reclaimed urban site in Santa Fe; the Josemaría Escrivá Church and Community Center is built around the relationship between architecture and light. The design concept began with the repetition of seven golden rectangles, over which are traced two curved lines that refer to the traditional Ichthus or fish symbol. These rise up in straight lines set on a diagonal to form a Cross of Light. On the outside, this geometric union forms two curved mantles clad with zinc panels. These generate interesting textures as the sun moves during the day. On the inside, the walls are clad with strips of wood that adapt to the curved walls that rise up without touching and allow light to enter .
Joyful Church chose The Beck Group to create a new facility for the church’s growing, vibrant worship and education programs on Sundays and for the church’s many social welfare ministries during the week. The church’s vision was to have a design that expressed a strong symbolic Christian message, but that also used traditional Korean symbols in a fusion of architecture, faith and culture. The location was a 10-acre site in a new town development area of Pohang. This site had many development challenges included steep, wooded hillsides and strict zoning limitations.
The church is located in the center of a crowded village. The intervention is based on a building previously constructed, where the interior was unfinished. We started with the idea of “building the silence”. In a world full of noise, the church represents a break, a moment of rest, peace and meditation. The strong spiritual character is present but doesn’t intimidate, it gives a sense of protection. The selection of materials, the way of moulding both natural and artificial light and the absence of images had the purpose of achieving harmony, a primarily condition in order to assure silence.
This design proposes a church with a vertical emphasis, creating a distilled space for religious ceremonies, and an accessible venue to the community for a variety of activities both day and night. The proposal reflects the industrial past of the site, taking one of Copenhagen’s landmarks – Masterkraanen – as an inspiration.
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