ATELIER 30 Architekten: Immanuel Church interior installations - best architects 17

ATELIER 30 Architekten

Immanuel Church interior installations

best architects 17

interior work

Place

Kassel / Germany

Photos

Thomas Fischer

Description

The Immanuel Church in the Kassel district of Forstfeld was built in 1963 according to plans by the architect Olaf A. Gulbransson. In the course of structural changes in the work of the parish, new offices and project spaces were needed. The plans for a conversion specified that the church nave should remain usable for smaller prayer services and cultural events. In the interior, which is dominated by a cascading wooden roof, two independently usable, transparent cabinets were inserted: a logical result of the ceiling motif. The skin of the installations displays a captivating interplay of vertical oak slats with the transparent areas between them. Depending on user requirements, portions of the installations can be shifted and opened up to the altar. The appearance of the church interior changes with the fall of sunlight and the standpoint of the viewer, creating light-suffused atmospheres that seem to transcend the here and now. The geometry of the space also determined the design of the intarsia-like oak floor. The various areas can be heated as needed. The necessary secondary rooms have been tucked under the gallery so as not to obstruct the view of the altar. Their walls are covered in reserved, vertically textured plaster. The transparent installations blend matter-of-factly into the church interior and show how old and new can coexist side by side in mutual harmony.