Kuokkala Church Kuokkala kirkko

Office / Name of Architects Lassila Hirvilammi Architects / Anssi Lassila, Teemu Hirvilammi, Jani Jansson www.lh-ark.fi Colaboraters Pasi Karjula (Art), Ramboll/ Juha Elomaa (Structural engineering), Ramboll/ Antti Oikari (Structural engineering), Stonecon/ Pekka Mesimki (Structural engineering) City / Country Jyvskyl, Finland Kuokkala Church An idea awoken in the Jyvskyl parish about a building to express its function and be adjoined as a part of the continuum of church construction had been formulated in the competition programme as a wish to have a church that looks like one. Our proposal KIDE was based on a compact, sculptural building, in which all the desired functions would be served within a single recognisable shape. The outer shape of the church represents the architecture of our time, but it also reflects historical allusions, filtered and interpreted. The dialogue of contrasts between the external and internal architecture has a strong role which has been tuned to play with carefully thought-out choices of material. The roof and walls of the church have been covered with overlapping dark Spanish slate tiles. The whole is supplemented by wooden and copper-covered details around the entrance areas, creating a sense of warmth and scale around them. The outer surfaces, stairways and entrance area walls have been done with Finnish granite. The bell tower, together with the walls, marks the way toward the main entrance. The functions of the church are located on three levels, with the offices opening directly to the market and thus being within good reach for daily business. On the main floor of the church building, the church hall and the parish meeting hall can be combined into one large sacral space: an entity into which also facilities for children and youth functions adjoin. A gallery between the church and parish halls houses the organ and the cantors offices. The envelope and heated interior of the building have been optimised by situating the functional spaces in levels and integrating the engineering into the attic space between the interior and the outer shell. The design solutions and choices of material have been made with the notion of a lifecycle durability of 100-200 years utilising locally produced materials. Also energy economics in relation to compass points have been considered in the opening of the building. Special attention has been paid to the insulation capabilities of the windows, facades and roof. The church is mainly wood-constructed, and the church ceiling is a combination of a glulam framework and wooden gridshell construction, which amalgamates the main floor spaces into a whole. The interior of the church holds visual references to wooden churches constructed by handicraftsmen as well as the rich structural world of a Gothic cathedral. The main material of the church is carefully selected spruce from central Finland, sawed radially and lightly whitened by waxing. Spruce is used throughout the building from bearing structures and ceilings right down to furnishing fixtures. The furniture in the church hall was designed as part of the entity, with European ashwood as the material. The altar furniture is made out of limewood, a wood species traditionally used for carving the icons in wooden churches built by handicraftsmen. Placement Shortlisted Programme Religious Edition 2011

view to the main enterace

Jussi Tiainen

view from square

Jussi Tiainen

view from field

Jussi Tiainen

churc hall

Jussi Tiainen

gridshell detail

Jussi Tiainen

view 3 floor

Jussi Tiainen

Plan first floor

plan second floor