architectural portfolio
THE HIGHER GRACE CHRIST OUR REDEEMER CHURCH
This unrealised church was a speculative concept project, initiated in early 2013.
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Project Brief
The project came about as Archland was informed that a new congregation was applying for a church to be built on a funding grant from an NGO. As the project had the potential to be something special, Archland Design Studios took on the challenge to produce a rough concept for a design which could become an iconic religious building. The site selected by the congregation was near Pretoria CBD on a corner road, with ample pedestrian access and maximum exposure to vehicular traffic. The fairly flat site borders a river and sports a singular large tree which is worth preserving. The congregation which would use the building is of African heritage and the building had to be show this heritage.
My Role
The project was one of my first assignments at Archland Design Studios and the design concept was a collaborative work between my boss and myself. It came about as the product of multiple interactive brainstorming and sketching sessions in which we both contributed to the collection of ideas in equal measure. I was tasked in my individual capacity with refining and amalgamating the ideas into a cohesive, buildable design as I was the only one at the firm with the necessary skills and experience in creating the digital models of the complex organic geometry in question.
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Workflow
Although many hand sketches were done in generating the concept, the entire project was modelled and the design was refined using Sketchup. The initial renders (above) were then done in Kerkythea (for exterior) and Indigo (for interior) render engines. The renders were finished off and compiled into a presentation booklet using Adobe Photoshop. Some years later, I revived the project and created the other renders, animations and 360° views for marketing purposes using Lumion.
Concept
Out of the site analysis, it was clear that the north-eastern corner of the site has the most exposure as it is flanked by two busy roads. This is also access point for pedestrian traffic due to the location of surrounding taxi and bus stops. It was thus decided to place the main feature element of the church in this corner, but keep it to a small footprint so that pedestrian traffic could be drawn in past the feature element. The element took the form of a stained glass cross carved out of a flat wall which would form the backdrop to the pulpit. The main church hall would flare out from this corner of the site, while the pedestrians could be led on a journey past the hall to gain access from the back.
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As african congregations often meet in the outdoors, it was decided to create a church which would accommodate both indoor and outdoor services. An amphitheatre was thus included in the form of a courtyard. Drawing from traditional African architecture which generally takes on organic forms and circles, it was decided to design the amphitheatre as a circle with the church buildings organised around this circle as a spiral. The spiral wall could slope ever downwards from the pinnacle of the feature wall, repeating the smooth flowing curves of the plan in elevation as well, and showing a clear hierarchy from the all-important church hall to the lesser service spaces at the opposite end of the spiral. This form would also surround the large tree on the site which would be located just off to the side of the amphitheatre.
Given the doubly curved forms created by the interacting geometries, it was clear that the building or at least substantial parts of it had to be cast in concrete rather than being constructed from masonry. It was thus decided to embrace the material and use an off shutter concrete finish. This pure but dull material could then be punctured with windows in many different colours of glass, creating a rich tapestry of colour inside the church, referencing the rich and playful use of colour so prevalent in African cultures.
As the design was only intended to provoke enough interest to get the project off the ground, it was decided to only resolve the designs of the amphitheatre and main church hall convincingly. The rest of the building was modelled as ‘place holder’ forms which could be fully resolved if the project continued. Although the response to the design was overwhelmingly positive, the funding did not come through and the project was never realised.