Detail of the project ed. 2016

mar­tin-luther-church / COOP HIMMELB(L)AU Wolf D. Prix & Part­ner ZT GmbH

Design­er  Wolf D. Prix
Loca­tion  Hain­burg, Austria
Design Team  

Plan­ning: COOP HIMMELB(L)AU – Wolf D. Prix & Part­ner ZT GmbH
Design Prin­ci­pal: Wolf D. Prix
Design Archi­tect: Sophie-Char­lotte Grell
Project Archi­tect: Mar­tin Mostböck
Project Team: Steven Baites, Daniel Bolo­jan, Vic­to­ria Coaloa, Jörg Hugo, Mar­tin Jelinek, Volk­er Kil­ian, Mar­tin Neumann
Year  2011
Pho­to credits  

© Duc­cio Malagamba

Pho­to external

Project descrip­tion

Mar­tin Luther Church, Hain­burg, Aus­tria (2008–2011)

The protes­tant church con­sists of four main build­ing ele­ments: a sanc­tu­ary, a com­mu­ni­ty hall, a sac­risty, and a sculp­tur­al bell tow­er. Coop Himmelb(l)au derived the shape of the build­ing from a huge “table”, with its entire roof con­struc­tion rest­ing on the legs of the “table” – four steel columns. 

The roof with its strik­ing three sky­lights is a key ele­ment of this build­ing. The exte­ri­or skin is made of 8 mm thick three-dimen­­sion­al­­ly curved steel plates weld­ed on a frame con­struc­tion. The roof ele­ments were con­struct­ed and man­u­fac­tured with ship­build­ing tech­nolo­gies. One impor­tant role mod­el was Le Cor­busier, for his ref­er­ences to ship­build­ing, but also because of his La Tourette monastery.

The 20 meter high sculp­tur­al bell tow­er at the fore­court is a ver­ti­cal self-sup­­port­ing steel struc­ture and com­pletes the build­ing ensem­ble as high­ly vis­i­ble landmark. 

The play with light and trans­paren­cy has a spe­cial place in this project. The light comes from above: three large wind­ing open­ings in the roof guide it into the inte­ri­or. The church inte­ri­or itself is not only a place of mys­ti­cism and qui­etude but also an open space for the community. 

The sanc­tu­ary gives access to the glass-cov­­ered children’s cor­ner, illu­mi­nat­ed by day­light, which accom­mo­dates also the bap­tis­tery. The actu­al com­mu­ni­ty hall is sit­u­at­ed behind it: fold­ing doors on the entire length of the space between the two main cham­bers allow for com­bin­ing them to one con­tin­u­ous spa­tial sequence. A fold­ed glass façade on the oppo­site side opens the space towards the street.

A lon­gi­tu­di­nal slab build­ing along a small side alley flanks both main spaces and com­pris­es the sac­risty, the pastor’s office, a small kitchen and oth­er ancil­lary rooms. A hand­i­capped acces­si­ble ramp between the three build­ing com­po­nents access­es the church gar­den on high­er ground.

Illus­tra­tive project report
Down­load report

Pho­to internal

Tech­ni­cal drawings

BACK TO PROJECTS PAGE

 

×