融 Fusion : church design for a new Christian group in Auckland

Abstract

To achieve the objectives of impressive religious architecture through a new Church design for a new Christian group, few questions have been proposed:

How the typological architectural expression for Eastern and Western cultures differ?

How can a fusion of eastern and western culture be expressed through religious architecture?

How to locate a suitable site for religious architecture and how the design can comply with the local landscape, whether the church needs to be an iconic building in Auckland’s suburban context, or whether do churches need to be symbolic buildings.

Can the integration of Eastern cultures (specifically Chinese because the church’s end users are primarily Chinese.) into the design occur without becoming a cliché?

What are the materials that will be appropriate to create a peaceful and sacred environment?

A Christian church is the house of God; the church building symbolizes “heaven” on earth. Church designers normally aim to create a unique and harmonious space for prayers and worship. This project will explore how a sacred space can affect spiritual emotions in both Christians and non-Christians. A strong Eastern cultural (particular in Chinese) background will be depicted through this design.

Central to this design is an attempted fusion of eastern and western culture. Because most people of this Christian community are first generation Chinese. The focus of this project is to investigate the formal language of the church typology and how it will fit into a contemporary context with Eastern characteristics and local landscape.