Eero Saarinen is born in Europe but he was
working for America in his whole life. Almost his architectures have unique
design and among them North Christian Church in Columbus, Indiana in 1964 is stand
out conspicuously. Dan Kiley and Alexandar Girard are also
contributed to the design. This North Christian Church is the last
architecture by Eero Saarinen before his untimely death. This building is made hexagonal sloping roof
and it looks like hugs the ground. Also, the important part of this building is
the spire and it is 192 feet high. According to ‘rickyberkey.org’, the
structure has 33,000 square feet of floor space and was constructed using 3800
yards of concrete, 320 tons of reinforced rods (rebar) and 22 tons of leaded
copper. One of important function of this spire is that light enters the
sanctuary at the main level through an oculus at the base of it. In the lower
level of the building, there are auditorium, classrooms, kitchen, and activity
area. At the lower level exterior design, a ‘moat’ surrounding the building and
it provides access to day lighting to the lower floors. Also, the concrete roof
is supported by a trapezoidal steel leg structure at it base. One of unique function
of this building is that rainwater is collected from the roof and it directly
move to the drain along this structure.
According to ‘rickyberkey.org’, in his design
Saarinen wanted to make the sanctuary building the central focus of the project
and avoid the sprawling complexes that many churches had become with the addition
of classrooms, kitchens, auditoriums and other spaces. Often times the
sanctuary itself would only be used on Sunday mornings and people would tend to
come and go and carry out most of their activities in other parts of the
building. So he made symmetric structure
that completely separate structure with hexagonal sloping roof. Also they
mentioned that the entrance pointed into the very heart of the sanctuary space
so anyone entering the church would have to glance up into the sanctuary and
contemplate its significance to their spiritual life.
Saarinen
wanted to make the church as one single form with spire. Therefore he extended
down to the lower corners of the roof structure so it became looks different
than any other structure. That’s why this building has unique silhouette on the
city skyline. Also, the roof and spire seem like to floating over the concrete
base. It could works symbolically to make the feeling of reaching upward to
God. Just like most of Church looks like. Also, the interior space design is
well made. According to ‘northchristianchurch.com’, it would give a feeling of
soaring space and a feeling of special enclosure. It would work well for the
light. The primary light source would be an oculus in the spire. It could give
intense light on the communion table. This light would lead you as you saw it
from the narthex. It would also keep you from being distracted by the people
across from you, but you would be aware of them. Then there could be a feeling
of contracting light back in the seating area. And this spire form would work
well structurally. The structure could be very simple and would clearly and
logically express the form and character of the church."
Artists mentioned that they could
and wanted to make over 200 feet spire but they had to avoid having to place an
aircraft beacon at the top to the nearby Air Force base. At the very first
time, it looks weird and looks like UFO or something. But, when I look deeply,
I realized that I could be a church. Because of the spire, it represented to
reach upward to God. I guess this architecture is well made with exterior and
even interior.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1567085
This church definitely has a very distinct look, especially because of the low roofline and spire. I think that the angles look quite sleek and dignified, though, which reminds me of the other buildings and monuments that Saarinen has created (like the iconic Gateway Arch in Saint Louis).
답글삭제-Prof. Bowen