Det­ta­glio del pro­get­to ed. 2024

cou­r­­tyard-church-of-luoyuan / Switzerland

Dr.-Ing. Dirk U. Moench

Pro­get­ti­sta Dr.-Ing. Dirk U. Moench
Loca­tion Guxia­jing, Fuwan Road, Luoyuan Coun­ty, Fujian Pro­vin­ce, China
Nazio­ne Chi­na
Desi­gn Team

Com­pa­ny: INU­CE • Dirk U. Moench
Chief Archi­tect: Dr.-Ing. Dirk U.

Anno 2021
Cre­di­ti Fotografici

Pho­to­gra­pher: SHIKAI

Foto ester­ni

Descri­zio­ne del progetto

COUR­TYARD CHURCH of LUOYUAN
Fami­ly Mini­stry in a Deve­lo­ping Zone

BACK­GROUND: Luoyuan is a town in Fujian, a pro­vin­ce famous for tea ter­ra­ces, its Hak­ka eth­nic mino­ri­ty and their ring-sha­­ped cour­tyard hou­ses, the so-cal­­led Tulou. Cur­ren­tly, Luoyuan is deve­lo­ping a new zone to its east. Whi­le the pro­cess is repla­cing vil­la­ges with high rises and pol­lu­ting farm­lands with fac­to­ries, it also pre­sen­ts the local con­gre­ga­tion – what remains of the Angli­can mis­sion in the region – with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to expand their mini­stry to the new­co­ming population. 

CHAL­LEN­GES: Anti­ci­pa­ting cou­ples with chil­dren to move in, the con­gre­ga­tion deci­ded to build a church distinc­tly addres­sing fami­lies´ needs. With any chan­ce, they hoped it might even retain the memo­ry of the community´s rural past.
• Pla­ced in the mid­st of indu­strial deso­la­tion, the com­ple­xi­ty of this pro­ject lied in crea­ting an envi­ron­ment that would be safe and attrac­ti­ve to chil­dren, all the whi­le making an ico­nic sta­te­ment for the Chri­stian pre­sen­ce in Luoyuan´s countryside.
• The pro­gram fea­tu­res distinct ser­vi­ce halls for adul­ts and you­ths, acti­vi­ty rooms for Sun­day school dif­fe­ren­tia­ted by age, admi­ni­stra­tion, a libra­ry and a tea hou­se for events. 

VER­NA­CU­LA­RI­TY & UNI­VER­SA­LI­TY: To ful­fil this brief, our desi­gn dra­ws upon a blend of stra­te­gies – some that reso­na­te with Fujian nati­ves´ per­so­nal expe­rien­ces, and others that wea­ve uni­ver­sal Chri­stian motifs into the fabric of the community:
• Simi­lar to for­tres­ses, Tulous used to ser­ve as pro­tec­ti­ve dwel­lings for fami­ly clans. Incor­po­ra­ting ver­na­cu­lar ele­men­ts such as the con­cen­tric orga­ni­za­tion around cir­cu­lar pavi­lions, the Cour­tyard Church desi­gna­tes a nur­tu­ring gar­den area for chil­dren to roam free­ly, and evo­kes the tra­di­tio­nal sce­ne of the region´s vibrant and fami­­ly-orie­n­­ted lifestyle.
• In con­tra­st, the ser­vi­ce hall reac­ts to the deso­la­tion of its envi­ron­ment by con­ju­ring a sen­se of who­le­ness, seclu­sion and sal­va­tion. Its ellip­ti­cal sha­pe is defi­ned by a dou­­ble-faca­­de com­po­sed of 107 707 pie­ces of stai­ned glass. “De Pro­fun­dis” – the art­work depic­ted – ema­na­tes an atmo­sphe­re of pro­found blue, trans­por­ting belie­vers to a meta­pho­ri­cal pla­ce whe­re dar­k­ness is disper­sed by divi­ne light. Illu­mi­na­ted at night, the church beco­mes a shi­ning bea­con. With an area of 1 412 squa­re meters, it stands as the lar­ge­st of its kind in China.

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