Mega church is a church having 2000 or more in average weekend attendance. The immense architecture of the mega church requires that the entire congregation can see and hear. The need for large parking lots to accommodate worshipers has often led these churches to be located on the outskirts of large cities. The ambition of this project is to bring the building back to the heart of city and embrace the praying activity as part of the urban life. The notion of camouflage is to allow new strategies to integrate massive volumetric building to interface with the urban landscape. The camouflage technique is not a graphic intention but an overall strategy of blending into its environment. In an urban perspective, the proposal creates a field of landscape and a moment of public participation. It connects to the surrounding public places by a network of promenades. In an architectural perspective, a re-defination of traditional pavilion as a cultural reference is introduced to the site. The building is eventually conceived as an urban park comprised of these pavilions allowing the public to communicate with praying community. The interior sermon space is liberated through a transparent interface where it becomes a container for the light and also a sharing room for the dialogue between the city and the prayers. The program of Mega church is a complex system of infrastructural and massing experimentations.
[CAMOUFLAGE: MEGA_CHURCH] Comprehensive Advanced Studio Instructor: Sungho Kim Fall 2011
01