Description

In Germany since the nineties, it has become taboo to use words such as “estate” in conjunction with urban expansion plans for cities. The reutilisation plans for the former Rieselfeld to the west of Freiburg are a case in point: mindful of simply filling the area with houses­ for ten to twelve thousand inhabitants, the plan was to produce an “urban quarter” with blocks instead of rows and a density similar to that of other late-19th-century quarters but with as much greenery as some of the smaller quarters built in western and southern Germany in the fifties.

Together with the Rieselfeld Community Centre, the Church of St Maria Magdalena stands on a rectangular square that forms the centre of the new urban quarter. Unlike its neighbour, the architecture of the church is both homogenous and erratic. Its outward appearance, akin to a giant outlandish boulder, gives no indication of its purpose. There is no bell tower – instead the bells ring from behind an opening behind the portal – nor even a cross on one of its four bare walls that might at least hint at its use. The 13.48 metre high walls of its sharply delineated edges point exactly to the north and south, and west and east. The northeast and southwest walls each measure 30 metres, the northwest and southeast walls each 38.2 metres. Although the building stands squarely on the ground, the folds and kinks in both of the long sides, some of which lean out slightly forwards, give the building a distinct and dynamic form. One is not yet aware of it, but the modulation of its surfaces reflects the space around not just one but two altar spaces in this double-church. The largest opening on the northwest wall marks the location of the Catholic presbytery, the largest opening on the southeast wall that of the Protestant presbytery.

The “ecumenical” programme for two Catholic and Protestant congregations was already outlined in the original competition brief. They detailed the poles of God’s House and the People’s House, of this world and thereafter, and suggested that the building be formed as a whole with three parts. To give the church a sufficiently prominent presence on the not exactly small square, the architects decided to unite all parts of the programme into a single volume.

The building has a smaller and a larger, a more secret and a more public entrance. Through a portal on the southwest wall one enters a courtyard whose form, not quite perfectly rhomboid in shape, gives a first indication of the sometimes obtuse, sometimes acute angularity of the inner container. To the left is a small vestry, to the right a business space, ahead three oak doors: behind these one enters a large foyer that extends the depth of the building. It serves not only for baptisms – the font stands in a square recess two steps deep – but also as a passage between the two entrances­ and exits to the southwest and northeast. The foyer is like a courtyard within the building, providing access to the Catholic church on the left and the Protestant church on the right. Both churches can be opened up to this central “street” by retracting their walls, four in total each weighing 22 tonnes, with the help of electrically driven motors.

When both churches are combined the space of the church is vast, its expanse on par with medieval churches. The ceiling unites the parts into a whole. The beams and boarding of the ceiling run crosswise, the rafters lengthways, with lighting cradles each with three spots, also suspended lengthways. Strips of glass supported by steel profiles allow light to stream in from above.

When, however, the church is divided into a central foyer and two church halls, the differences become apparent. The Catholic church fills the entire length of the northwest side and has two galleries and a twin-walled rear surface, which accommodates a small chamber and provides a safe home for the tabernacle. The Protestant church occupies half the length of the southeast side and has one gallery. On this side next to this church, the ancillary spaces serve most of the other purposes. The altar and chairs are identical throughout. Designed by Susanne Gross, the fragile character of the furnishings – the chairs in oak with reed seats – contrasts markedly with the robust character of the walls.

As the Catholic church is illuminated more strongly in the evening, the Protestant church in the morning, the former appears darker, more expressive and the latter lighter and more minimal. The impression is also reinforced by the treatment of the surface behind the altar. In the Catholic church there is a wide niche with its own concealed rear window, that can glow reddish in the evening sun. Above and to each side, the sunlight shining through the roof lights and between the beams throws a dynamic play of diagonal stripes across the wall. Behind the altar in the Protestant church is a 10 by 6 metre large window, and, in front of it, a little offset from the window, a wooden baffle with horizontal slots cut out of it. Light is reflected into the room – to the left, the right and below, as well as through the three slots – but unlike in the Catholic church, the light remains static and unchanging.

The exceptionally compact and monolithic building is constructed of lightweight concrete cast in situ and left fair faced. The colour of the 40 centimetre thick walls is achieved through its mixture of lava, cement, ash and sand rather than pigments. The three levels of construction are visible as joins on the surface of the concrete. The demonstrative materiality – the sheer presence of the concrete – obviates all need for further decoration. The delicate play of light across its surfaces is ornament enough.

During the sixties and seventies, some concrete churches sought to counter the monotony of mediocre modernism through sculptural architecture. Some of these buildings were indeed the work of sculptors, among them Walter Maria Förderer’s Church of St Nicholas in Hérémence, Switzerland from 1971 or Fritz Wotruba’s Church of the Holy Trinity in Vienna, Austria from 1976. Other churches built around the same time by southern German architects such as Rainer Disse, Hans Kammerer/Walter Belz and Helmut Striffler have a similar, though less sculptural and therefore less dramatic character, as they do not employ the jagged interlocking forms that make Förderer’s and Wotruba’s work so eccentric.

St Maria Magdalena Church draws inspiration from these 40 year old predecessors. Its qualities lie in the homogeneity of its materials and construction, as well as in its function and symbolism. It also offers a solution to the task of uniting “two churches as one church”. Lastly, even the most casual of observers will notice that through the planar quality of its walls, the visibility of the timber roof, and details such as the spiral staircase in one of the two church halls, it also relates to a Romanesque tradition.

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Originally published in: Rudolf Stegers, Sacred Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2008.