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Transcending Typology: 6 Ways Architects Are Transforming New Spiritual Spaces
CategoriesArchitecture

Transcending Typology: 6 Ways Architects Are Transforming New Spiritual Spaces

By Zarkon Group,

The latest edition of “Architizer: The World’s Best Architecture” — a stunning, hardbound book celebrating the most inspiring contemporary architecture from around the globe — is now available. Order your copy today.  

Religion is steeped in symbolism, and places of worship are, by extension, physical manifestations of these belief systems. Architecture is a powerful vehicle for spirituality. It allows the ethereal, the conceptual, to be made tangible and concrete. Spatial design can give form to the cornerstones of faith, orchestrating vast volumes of veneration and shaping intimate nooks for introspection.

Yet, we’ve moved far beyond traditional, time-honored typologies of religious space. Architects continue to experiment with light, scale and form to create subversive and surprising sacred structures. From awe-inspiring parametric projects to a meditative woodland retreat, discover the ways these wonderous places of worship, recognized at the 11th A+Awards, are forging new pathways to architectural enlightenment.

1. Calling on Curvilinear Forms

Sanctuario De La Salle by CAZA, Biñan, Philippines

Jury Winner, 11th Annual A+Awards, Religious Buildings & Memorials

Sanctuario De La Salle by CAZA

Sanctuario De La Salle by CAZAIn a dramatic departure from the historic cruciform plan, this remarkable church in the Philippines is defined by its striking, amorphous form. Shrouded by woodland, the mysterious edifice is veiled by a rhythmic curtain of white slats, eschewing precise angles for flowing, curvilinear lines. The building embraces organic shapes, while its permeable façade establishes a dialogue between the inner world of worship and the external landscape.

At the heart of the church is the drum-shaped congregation hall, framed by a sweeping clerestory window. Above, the tilted ceiling evokes the orbital arc of the planets, reinforcing the connection between the congregation and the wider universe. A series of spherical rooms flank the hall, situated within a larger circulatory area, the small pockets forming a communal space greater than the sum of its parts.

2. Experimenting With Glazing

Church of the Holy Family by ARQBR Arquitectura e Urbanismo, Brasília, Brazil

Popular Choice Winner, 11th Annual A+Awards, Religious Buildings & Memorials

Church of the Holy Family by ARQBR Arquitectura e Urbanismo Church of the Holy Family by ARQBR Arquitectura e UrbanismoA casualty of urbanization, the trees that once surrounded this site in Brasília were all but removed to make way for an adjacent expressway. The acreage’s new Catholic church seeks to reawaken the bucolic soul of the land and illuminate the relationship between the spiritual and environmental realms.

The circular nave, peaceful in its monolithic presence, is partially embedded underground, beneath the natural height of the plot. Inside, parallel ribbons of glazing encase the perimeter. Inset into the roof, a ring of skylights illuminates the ripple of wood panels below. A sweeping glass band rises behind the lectern, balancing on the horizon, drawing the external terrain in. This remarkable project recenters and internalizes the landscape, infusing it with religious significance.

3. Memorializing the Past

Saint Sarkis Church by David Hotson_Architect, Carrollton, Texas

Finalist, 11th Annual A+Awards, Religious Buildings & Memorials

Saint Sarkis Church by David Hotson_Architect Saint Sarkis Church by David Hotson_ArchitectWhile this astonishing church stands in East Texas, it draws on an ecclesiastical tradition some 8,000 miles away. A homage to the historic Armenian church of Saint Hripsime, it features the same domed form, built some 1,400 years on from its counterpart. The structure’s sculptural interior, carved from glass-fiber reinforced concrete, follows the lead of its ancient inspiration. Lighting fixtures, air-conditioning ducts and other modern interventions have been skilfully concealed, creating an ethereal finish that transcends time.

The very fabric of this grand edifice was conceived as a moving memorial too. The west façade is clad in digitally printed porcelain rainscreen, depicting the traditional Armenian cross and motifs drawn from the country’s vernacular art. Yet, upon closer examination, a secondary layer of meaning unfurls — the design dissolves into 1.5 million infinitesimal pixels, representative of the victims of the Armenian genocide.

4. Honoring the Organic World

Meristem Chapel by MOTIV Architects, Surrey, Canada

Finalist, 11th Annual A+Awards, Pavilions

Meristem Chapel by MOTIV Architects Meristem Chapel by MOTIV ArchitectsThis enchanting chapel in British Columbia was conceived as a peaceful place of reflection and reconnection with the organic landscape, at a distance from the frenetic hubbub of modern life. Its name, Meristem, references a plant tissue found in the roots and shoots of foliage, which instigates the growth of new cells. In the same way, this unassuming space seeks to instill spiritual growth in those who find refuge within its walls.

Nestled in woodland, the structure’s steeply pitched form mirrors the silhouette of the surrounding conifers. The materials used in its construction are deeply rooted in the chapel’s locale — plywood and nail-laminated timber panels were salvaged from deconstructed buildings less than 200 meters from the site. Exposed wood envelops the interior, forming a calming space for contemplation. Twelve skylights are embedded in the ridge of the roof, casting mesmerizing sunbeams across the woodwork.

5. Playing with Perforated Skins

Kol Emeth Center by Field Architecture, Palo Alto, California

Finalist, 11th Annual A+Awards, Religious Buildings & Memorials
Finalist, 11th Annual A+Awards, Sustainable Cultural/Institutional Building

Kol Emeth Center by Field Architecture Kol Emeth Center by Field ArchitectureEnvisaged as a progressive beacon, this extraordinary synagogue in California combines centuries-old tradition with modern values, articulated through cutting-edge construction methods. The project negotiated a number of restrictions, including an awkward, triangular plot, a single-story height limit and a tight budget. The result is a versatile place of worship that utilizes humble materials and honors the structure’s environmental context.

The building’s sleek, glazed frame is encircled by a striking perforated skin. A stunning example of parametric design, four tiers of rotating timber slats have been carefully calibrated to maximize the site’s light levels. In the prayer hall, a slatted dropped ceiling falls in organic undulations, allowing light from the glazing above to filter through. Thanks to the synagogue’s porous shroud, its spiritual spaces are punctuated with glimpses of the verdant woodlands and wildflowers.

6. Merging Unexpected Typologies

Madaline Terrace by Dake Wells Architecture, Springfield, Missouri

Special Mention, 11th Annual A+Awards, Religious Buildings & Memorials

Madaline Terrace by Dake Wells Architecture Madaline Terrace by Dake Wells ArchitectureThis innovative project sits at a juncture between contrasting worlds. Bridging Springfield’s energetic commercial district and a quiet neighborhood, the building fuses two surprising typologies: a private law practice and a chapel. Visually compelling, the modernist-inspired structure masterfully balances the needs of its client, a minister and attorney with a proclivity for Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn.

The building reads as a tale of two functions, belied by a unifying architectural thread. A low pavilion houses the law office, accentuated by protruding fins that offer shade from the Missouri sun. Meanwhile, the chapel is expressed as a white cubic volume floating above the brickwork. Inside, the mass has been carved into a majestic, vaulted space. The sequestered glazing in the roof becomes a series of picture frames, capturing snapshots of the tree canopy while obscuring the hustle and bustle of the thoroughfare below.

The latest edition of “Architizer: The World’s Best Architecture” — a stunning, hardbound book celebrating the most inspiring contemporary architecture from around the globe — is now available. Order your copy today.  

Reference

Factory Reset: These Architects are Giving the Industrial Typology a Much-Needed Update
CategoriesArchitecture

Factory Reset: These Architects are Giving the Industrial Typology a Much-Needed Update

By Zarkon Group,

Architizer is thrilled to announce the winners of the 11th Annual A+Awards! Interested in participating next season? Sign up for key information about the 12th Annual A+Awards, set to launch this fall.

Designing industrial buildings, particularly factories, is usually a process that is dominated by the complicated functional and logistical requirements that limit architects creatively, overpowered by the technical specifications of the machinery and the production lines that occupy the entirety of the building space and leave little space for the form to develop beyond the functional limitations.

That being said, one would ask, What comes first? Form or Function?

Site Overview of Project

The Oatmeal Factory in Ningwu, Shanxi province by JSPA Design.

This question has been the topic of hot debate among architects throughout history, with contrasting perspectives among the modernists and postmodernists, among others. During the late 19th and the 20th century, particularly within the field of industrial design, architects believed that “form follows function,” as expressed by architect Louis Sullivan, which indicated that the function of the building is what generates its form and guides its design process. For Frank Lloyd Wright, that design principle has been misunderstood, because, “Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.”

When studying the design of the Ningwu Oatmeal Factory in Shanxi, China, which was both the Jury Winner and won the Popular Choice vote during Architizer’s 11th Annual A+Awards, one could argue that JSPA Design was inspired by Wright’s principle. This is especially evident in the way they eloquently strike the balance between both, breeding what could be described as a spiritual union between form and function. The design shows a high level of attention to the factory’s user experience, the selection of materials and the relationship with the site. In short, JSPA Design conceived of a home for production processes that is more than just a factory; the Ningwu Oatmeal Factory is a building that produces a lot more than just oatmeal.

The main entrance to the factory emphasized by the use of brick walls.

The Beijing-based French design studio produced a design that strokes the right balance between the complicated functional requirements and the humanization of the work environment, juggling the different design components while also introducing an interesting user experience that invited the public into the building while redeeming the integrity of the factory’s different operations.

From the outside, the surrounding context was challenging to work with, with the factory being located within dry and arid industrial landscapes punctured with coal mines on their outskirts. In response to this context, the design team chose to orient the building inwards, introducing a variety of horizontal and vertical boundary-demarcating elements that fostered a crisp and clean indoor environment, experientially detaching the building from the outside while enhancing the user experience and orchestrating an interesting walkthrough across the complex’s different sections. Meanwhile, visitors are spatially separated from staff for safety and logistical reasons.

An overview of the factory’s industrial context.

From an environmental perspective, the building’s relationship with the outdoors is further regulated through a network of patios and gardens that invite sunlight to enter the factory’s various spaces. These design provisions enrich the quality of the indoor environment, allowing floods of northern light to illuminate the central production space through a sequence of skylights.

A cross section through the main production space showing the skylights and the production machinery.

By using grey bricks as the main construction material, the designers establish a more materialistic connection with the surrounding context. By harnessing local construction methods to erect a series of brick walls that became the prominent design feature, the material amplifies the building’s relationship with the site and the surrounding landscapes.

Similar to the flow of production lines that transform raw oat into flour products, a variety of brick walls organize the circulation flows through the factory, starting at the entrance and leading each user group to their designated section, while also organizing entry and exit to the building, the delivery of materials and the loading of products. For the visitors, the ground floor serves as an opaque passage, with the brick walls concealing the technical spaces from the public that are lead instead to the first floor where the public spaces are located, including a café, a shop and a garden.

Brick walls guide the different users groups through the factory.

At the factory’s entrance, the public are greeted with a seating area and kids pools, mediating the relationship between the inside and the outside and softening the edge that separates the functional from the social sections of the factory. Brick makes a gradual and smooth appearance at the entrance, first appearing on the benches, before moving to the fences, and then extending vertically and becoming a series of walls that soon become the factory.

The seating area in front of the main entrance that acts as part of the public spaces of the factory.

The bricks walls that organize movement through the landscape aligned with the factory walls.

Despite how the brick walls have acted as boundary demarcating elements that organized the factory’s spaces, circulation and relation with the site, this project is an excellent example of architecture that blurs the line between form and function, with each fundamentally playing a role in shaping the other, without one necessarily needing to precede the other.

One of the interior gardens of the factory that regulate the relationship with the outside, demarcated by the brick walls .

The design team strategically chose key places to expose and conceal the factory’s different spaces, as well as varied sites where the factory is either connected or disconnected from the outside. Other binaries include rhythmic alternations between soft and hard, experiential and technical; and outward-reaching and inward-turning (click here to see plans, sections and more details from the A+Award-winning project). The sum of these complex calculations is proof that factory design need not be entirely automated. It shows that there is always a space for humans to intervene and be present within industrial sites.

Architizer is thrilled to announce the winners of the 11th Annual A+Awards! Interested in participating next season? Sign up for key information about the 12th Annual A+Awards, set to launch this fall.

Reference

“Yposkafo”: Have You Heard of Greece’s Underrated and Undercut Residential Typology?
CategoriesArchitecture

“Yposkafo”: Have You Heard of Greece’s Underrated and Undercut Residential Typology?

By Zarkon Group,

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter. 

For the past decade, Greek architects have had to tap into the tourist industry, Greece’s most prosperous sector, in order to deal with the country’s financial crisis. Suddenly, the bare landscapes in rural Greece went “under construction,” and a new typology of residential architecture emerged.

The term “yposkafo” stands for a building that exists partially into the ground and is also known as undercut architecture. These seven residential projects explore the different techniques, processes and morphologies of houses that blend in with a site’s topography. Spanning through multiple levels, these residences include both extraordinary underground spaces as well as limitless country and seaside views.

Xerolithi

By Sinas Architects, Serifos, Greece

Jury Winner 2021, A+Awards, Architecture + Stone
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Photos by Yiorgos Kordakis

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Topography and landscape are the two essential ingredients of Xerolithi. Breaking the preconceptions of a typical Cycladic house, Sinas Architects have exaggerated the island’s topographical contours, designing a house that seamlessly integrates with its surroundings. With walls built from the island’s stone and a roof that is covered with local plants and vegetation, the house is gradually emerging from the Mediterranean hill. Finally, a long, singular façade arranges the house’s functions in a linear order, successfully orienting it towards the sea.

Aloni

By Deca Architecture, Antiparos, Greece

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Photos by Erieta Attali

<alt=Aloni is also a house that trails the landscape. Still, in this case, the land is not raw or uninhabited, but rather a product of rural conversion practices. Following the agricultural motifs of the past, Deca Architecture employs a series of techniques such as carving, sinking and the use of existing retaining walls. They create a semi-artificial landscape that blurrs the edges between the natural and artificial ground morphology.

Ring House

By Deca Architecture, Crete, Greece

Jury Winner 2018, A+Awards, Private House (L 3000-5000 sq ft)
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Photos by George Messaritakis

In addition to being a refined addition to Crete’s natural setting, the Ring House fulfills a wider agenda. After countless random interventions to the hill’s topography, Deca Architecture approached the house’s design as an opportunity to regenerate the surrounding landscape. Pursuing a reduce-waste approach, they used the excavated material to reconstruct the hill’s original morphology. At the same time, the Ring House itself acts as an exemplar for sustainable design. Its careful insertion into the landscape, results in the formation of a temperate microclimate fit for Crete’s desert-like environment.

Sheltered Villas

By A&M Architects, Karpathos, Greece

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Sheltered but not concealed, A&M Architects designed three distinct villas in the island of Karpathos. However, instead of employing the classic “yposkafo” typology, they added a bit of a twist, treating the opposing facades of each house in the most contradictory way. On the one hand, a series of white retaining walls cut through the ground, clearly marking the back wall of each villa. On the front end of the house however, a single transparent façade creates a threshold between the inside spaces and the outside scenery.

KHI House & Art Space

By LASSA Architects, Methoni, Greece

<alt= <alt= <alt=Located in a shallow Peloponnesian slope, KHI is a house full of contradictions. Playing with height as well as enclosure, LASSA Architects have merged courtyards, unrestricted roofs, underground gallery spaces, and sunbathed rooms all within a single rippling wall. The wall gradually sinks into the ground, continuously reframing the two functions of the house: the residence and the art space. It becomes an animating apparatus that shifts the landscape conditions around KHI House, gently integrating it with the immediate terrain.

House 6 °

By Mado Samiou Architecture, Lagonisi, Greece

<alt= <alt=Built only a couple of miles away from Athens’s dense urban setting, House 6 ° celebrates the unspoiled nature of its setting. Emerging from the ground, the white solid structure compliments the incline of the adjacent hill. House 6 °separates its functional spaces into underground private areas, illuminated by a series of skylights, and common areas above the ground, strategically positioned towards the surrounding countryside views.

Villa Ypsilon

By LASSA Architects, Foinikounta, Greece

<alt= <alt=Villa Ypsilon is one of the most radical “yposkafo” residences, found inside a Peloponnesian olive grove. Instead of digging into the landscape, its design manipulates the ground’s surface, shifting it to a higher level. The roof of the villa becomes an integral part of the hill as well as a natural cooling mechanism for the entire space.

“Yposkafo” typology is predominantly established in rural areas in order to sustain Greece’s natural landscape. Greatly encouraged by Greek building regulations, it has become an intermediary solution for promoting international tourism without sacrificing its physical beauty.

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter. 

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