Detail of the project ed. 2020

ATE­LIER­JONES – CLT CHURCH

Design­er	Susan Jones
Loca­tion	11061 NE 2nd St., Belle­vue, WA 98004
Design Team	ate­lier­jones Susan Jones, FAIA Joe Swain Michelle Kang Brooks Brainerd Marisol Foreman Mesa Sherriff Dhara Goradia Brett Holverstott Megu­mi Migita
Year	2016
Pho­to credits	Exter­nal #1: Fran­cis­co Lopez de Arenosa Exter­nal #2,3,4,5: Lara Swim­mer Photography Inter­nal #1,2,3,4: Lara Swim­mer Photography Inter­nal #5: Susan Jones

Pho­to external

Project descrip­tion

Using light, mate­ri­al­i­ty and space, the sanc­tu­ary was designed to cre­ate a sense of awe. Upon enter­ing the space, the con­gre­gant looks up, and sees a rich inter­play of light and shad­ow from hid­den aper­tures – from above, from high side win­dows — a huge sub­tle wash of light, chang­ing moment by moment. The light wash­es down upon the undu­lat­ing and fold­ing wood­en wall, through high, hid­den sky­lights. The wood­en wall stands 40 feet high, each fold of the wall made up of one wood­en pan­el, 8’ x 40’ high, each dif­fer­ent, yet stand­ing state­ly, unique, each with a dif­fer­ent geom­e­try that fur­ther cre­ates a dif­fuse expe­ri­ence of the light, falling and chang­ing. The wood­en wall is a metaphor for our sim­i­lar but unique human­i­ty, each of us shar­ing our com­mon fate, but hav­ing a unique role to play. Each pan­el is com­prised of hun­dreds of small, wood­en pieces, all cre­at­ing an alive and majes­tic com­plex­i­ty against the falling light.

The CLTChurch is an adap­tive reuse and addi­tion to an exist­ing 1970s office build­ing to cre­ate a new mixed-use insti­tu­tion, with sanc­tu­ary, class­rooms, office, and social ser­vices build­ing in down­town Belle­vue. The 48,926 sf two sto­ry steel frame build­ing was cut open on its NW cor­ner to insert a 6,000 sf 47’ high sanc­tu­ary. The new sanc­tu­ary north wall con­sists of 17 39’ high cross-lam­i­­nat­ed tim­ber (CLT) fold­ed plates. Wash­ing indi­rect light down­wards from north­ern sky­lights and full height side win­dows, the undu­lat­ing CLT is the back­drop for sub­tle day­light expe­ri­ences so com­mon to Pacif­ic North­west light under grey skies. The use of cross-lam­i­­nat­ed tim­ber high­lights the Pacif­ic Northwest’s region­al rela­tion­ship to tim­ber, reduces the project’s over­all car­bon foot­print, and human­izes the cold steril­i­ty of the exist­ing two-sto­ry rib­bon-win­­dow stuc­co build­ing. A new bell tow­er at the street edge of the site is announces the new use to the vehic­u­lar-ori­en­t­ed con­text and pedes­tri­an vis­i­tor alike in the exur­ban city. Designed and built for a very low cost of $160/SF, the project is a gift to its intent and earnest parish­ioners, who wel­come all into their midst.

Illus­tra­tive project report
Down­load report

Pho­to internal

Tech­ni­cal drawings

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