Austrian Austerity
-On Heinz Tesar’s Donau City Church
Sometimes the urban context constitutes the most serious obstacle for making an appropriate piece of architecture. Especially in a cacophonic place like the Donau City east of central Vienna consisting mostly of gigantic UN offices and international conference buildings – and if the task is placing a minor church there to be noticed and not just drowned in its impressive surroundings.
To solve this delicate problem six leading offices were asked to participate in a competition back in 2000. As the winning scheme the jury chose a project made by Austrian architect Heinz Tesar(1939) internationally known for among other projects a fine fire station back in the heydays of Post Modernism . His winning church project suggested a precious black casket contrasted by a soft wooden interior.
From the outside the hardcore minimalist structure situated next to a local underground station is only noticed and claiming its presence by being extremely much darker and austere than anything along the adjacent walkways with only a white marble cross in the black bluish façade indicating the function of the building.
At a closer look the 20 by 20meters plan of the Roman Catholic church ‘Christ, hope of the World’ resembles a somewhat heavy cross with short arms since all corners of the box building are cut away in different degrees to give way for windows. The placement of the windows in the upper corners of the facades are having some architectonic similarities to the ‘el’-figures of Peter Eisenmann, but are used otherwise since the smallest cut into the box appears to South East, the cut in North East is a little larger, the North Western one even larger while the South Western one is stretching from ground level to the flat top of the building and partly used in the entrance porch next to the exit.
Protected by heavy metal facades made of steel chrome alloy plates measuring some 2400 by 1200 by 5millimetres the skin of the church could be compared to an armoured vehicle or humvee providing interior safety against the vandalism of the city. The exterior armour even seems to have been hit and penetrated twice since each plate has two circular openings. The biggest of the windows in a plate being 30centimetres in diameter while the other one minuscule and the plate itself secured by 16 steel bolts. The façade plates are organized in a vertical pattern while the neighbouring plates are moved one third (40centimetres) upwards or downwards giving some life or movement to the else way stern outer skin.
Like a turtle the austere heavy though perforated exterior shield is contradicted by a surprisingly soft and friendly looking interior. In fact all surfaces on the inside of the church are made of light wood, the walls and ceiling being of birch plywood plates while the floor is made of small 1 by 25centimetres laminated maple blocks. Even the benches are mainly made of birch plywood carried on small steel columns.
One thing being the interior cladding of wooden plates even more important might be the systematic perforating pattern of the walls with conical holes measuring some 50centimetres on the inside lightening up the visual perception of the space while the larger rectangular windows in the corners mainly serving as the major indication of the position of the sun – or time of the day. Even the acoustic ceiling is having an opening of its own formed as the letter ‘S’ to the heaven above.
The ceremonial functions of the church are organized more traditionally with the entrance to the south next to an exit facing west while some small service spaces also to the west are hidden behind softly bent convex plywood plates. The position of the altar and the seating are arranged due to the so-called circumstantum principle meaning an almost circular arrangement with the priest being within the circle of the surrounding congregation. Both the altar placed on a raised podium and the baptismal font are made of rustic fabricated anthracite-grey Syenite while a large circular recessed figure in the eastern wall is bearing a slender cross of gold leaf indicating the faith.
Besides the interior of the church space so wonderfully lit by natural daylight there is a full basement below ground level usable for the servants and the congregation although almost totally hidden for the eye of the many by-passers in the urban context of the church. To the west the church building is integrated in the sloping terrain and crowned by 3 minor bells exposed in their open steel framing tower as evident symbols of a Christian church.
In architecture interior spaces are generally considered to be of more importance than the eventual beauty of the exterior while the interdependence of the two can be used as a genuine measure of masterly quality. Not at least for spaces open for the public like churches like this one designed by Tesar.
Flemming Skude
FACTS:
Donaucity kirche, Donaucitystrasse 2, 22. Bezirk, Vienna(2000)
Architect: Heinz Tesar(1939)
