Stefan Steffes-Mies

Design for a Protestant community-centre

In times of secularization, the design for a Protestant community-centre is a special challenge.
The community-centre in this project is meant to be a centre and so it has become a constructional compact complex as well.

The site is located on the edge between urban housing and a green island - the Aachen Westpark.

It is a wonderful place for a church with a particular quality due to the relation between the park and city life. For this reason the connection between park and city has become the main entrance-axis for the community-centre.

The spire is located next to the axis as a campanile and it marks the yard from which the church and the community rooms are entered.
The spire, whose height results from the length of the entire community-centre, is designed to also be opened to the north, where the church-owned garden is located.
On the spire, a cross is displayed by using shadow gaps in vertical and horizontal direction.

The commune-centre is westward orientated to the park. The residence of the priest and his family is located in the south of the complex with its separate entrance.

There is an internal connection between the priests’ residence and the sacristy through a roof garden. The church building itself is separated from the other rooms by a gap.

The light-concept is a very important element of the church. Starting from a point inside the church, imaginary rays spread into all directions. The points of intersection of ray and materialized shell are opened. The starting point of these rays is not just a liturgical element, it is the place where, amongst other things, marriage is celebrated.

 

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