Church Experiences 02 Modern Churches
Process Catalogue 3: Church Experiences 02 Spatial Design Institute for Architecture and Design The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Tutor: Lise Juel Katrine Brun Knudsen, 5339
Introduction This catalogue includes some of my visits to different Danish Churches. I have defined them as modern churches, as they are all build within the past 60 years. Churches began looking in more ways around the 1950s and since then they new churches build, hasn’t necessarily been as easily recognized as churches from the outside. I have registered all of them in pictures and sketches; this catalogue provides a small description and a sketch for every church visit. This has helped me to understand what a church building is and can be in Denmark.
Antvorskov Kirke A Saturday Morning Coming to the church it was closed. I tried to pull the handle, with no luck. I looked at it from the outside. When I was to leave I saw a woman inside and I knocked a door close to her. I was lucky. She gave me a tour of the church and all its facilities. She told me that too many users wanted to use the spaces. The nave had beautiful natural lighting and the ceiling was part of creating the atmosphere in room as well. The space was very white. The acoustics were good for classical music, she told me. At big cermonies, the church can open up in one side, to become almost twice as big.
Bagsværd Kirke A Sunday Service Again I sit in the back of the church. But I am still close to the altar and the priest as the church i wide instead of long. I sit next to three retarded people, that are making a lot of noises and one of them is saying “Amen” out loud every time the priest have said something. That is not a problem to anyone it seems. The priest is singing some of the prayers and there are generally more singing than regularly. The choir sings a hymn for us. The choir is behind the priest, in front of us. But we can not see them because of the walls inside the nave. Also today I see a baptism, but this one is shorter than often. After the service a few people have church coffee inside the nave and tourists are coming to see the work of Utzon. Talking to the priest she is annoyed by the turist, but happy with the architecture of the church and appreciate being close to the “audience”.
Hellig Kors Kirke A Sunday Mass Parking at the parking lot I cannot see the church. I go by a path to find the end of the church. It is not recognizable as a church on the outside. I walk behind a confused couple that does not know how to enter the church. I end up leading the way into the big nave, where I place myself in the middle with a beem of sunlight next to me. As the service goes on, the beam passes me. On the inside it is very recognizable as a Danish National church with the alter, big cross, baptistery etc. It is a beautiful service with the view of Roskilde Fjord on the left. There is around 60 people this morning and talking to the priest afterwards, it is quite few. When the service is over, many people leave through the door in the glass wall in the back of the church. I take a look around and the priest tells me that the nave functions very well and the kitchen is fine as well.
Islev Kirke An afternoon The entrance is easily found and the door is open. As I walk in I meet a man that helps me to turn on the light in the nave. I walk under a colourful organ to enter the nave. Even with the lights on, it is really dark. Lights are coming in from the ceiling, many shadows are created. The bricks are really coarse and create many details on both walls and flooring. I do not stay for long inside, but go out to take a look at the bricks on the outside. The coarseness is beautiful and creates a certain atmosphere.
Klippan Kyrka A Friday afternoon I park the car at a parkinglot that is only suited for three cars. I walk all the way around the church having a hard time finding the entrance. In one end there is a public park, the other has a church garden with a lake. Walking around the church I notice the many ways the bricks has been used for different patterns. When I finally find the entrance, it is the same on the inside. The floring, the walls, the ceiling. Everything of the same grey bricks. The bricks also creates the windows. By just removing a few bricks the daylight comes in through the ceiling. The baptistery, the altar, the pulpit. Everything is created by bricks. It is dark church, rich on atmosphere. Someone has been in here today, as several candles are lit. I sit down to study the bricks. I only leave later, as another woman enters and lights a candle.
PrĂŚstebo Kirke A Sunday Service I arrive in good time. The pavement in front of the church creates a parkinglot and a path to the entrance of the church. I go inside and there are quiet many people compared to the fact that there is no baptism. I think we are 30 people present. The organ plays and servant reads aloud. The priest preach. She uses the pulpit and the floor. Everything goes on as imagined. The organ is in front of the room, with the choir. The altar is central in the room. The ceiling takes my focus. Much of the natural light is coming from the ceiling - lighting up the altar. After service around half of the church goers goes to the parish hall for church coffee. The half going is clearly the regular crowd - the senior churchgoers.
Stavnsholt Kirken A Classical Concert I sit in the front row, very close to the conductor. It is an amateur orchestra of 15 strings playing Mozart, Corelli and Carl Nielsen. The concert is a bit too long considering the quality of the music, but it gave me a lot of time to consider the yellow brick nave. There are many different patterns of the bricks creating different details. The organ and alter is in the corner of the square nave. Both the baptistery and the alter are of marble. The flooring is square granite tiles. It is a light church with windows near to the ground showing a bit of the surroundings. The rest of the daylight in the church is coming from skylights by the walls; you can not see the light source sitting on the church benches. As the concert is finished I take a walk around the church, the entrance is big a made of glass, leading to the less open space of the nave on the left and the other facilities on the left. The chapel is placed on the left side of the nave in another building connected by a concrete ceiling, that also frames the garden behind the church.
Vangede Kirke An afternoon I park at the parkinglot and get out in grey afternoon. I ask a person where to find the entrance and go inside. Going into the church there is no one in there. The red bricks are used in combination with concrete details and wooden doors. The bricks are used in many different ways, creating niches and different wall elements. It is a great church with room for hundreds of people. The altar is a mosaic, placed with benches on three sides. As I leave the room two others enter the nave. I believe they both work at the church. The church is made of different building compents and the church complex is big; all of red brick except from the clocktower. The clocktower is a separate structure in metal.