Description
Dictated by its position on a main road on the periphery of Copenhagen, this elongated, stepped building seems at first glance ostentatiously introverted. One sees a concrete structure with wide, solid north-south gable walls and long east-west flanks. The roof of the centre structure and the roofs of the structures on either side contrast with one another: the former, oblique surfaces of vertically profiled aluminium and the latter, low pitched surfaces of glass and steel. Large format white tiles cover the upper sections of the external walls; the rising and falling of the exterior loosely corresponds to the line of the vaulted interior.
On a grid of 2.2 by 2.2 metres, there are 36 units along its length and ten across. The building covers an area of 79.57 by 22.5 metres. The building is a large framework with five bays, arranged in a row from west to east: in the first of these are the forecourt, the chapel and the entrance to the church; in the second are the church and sacristy; in the third are the offices and the kitchen; in the fourth the parish hall; in the fifth seminar and group work spaces. The prefabricated structural frame with its longitudinal and lateral corridors serves to provide access to the ancillary rooms, and to enclose the four inner courtyards.
In contrast to the grey exterior, the white interior is defined by the balance between a weak longitudinal axis between the entrance and altar and the strong lateral axis created by the dominant vaults of half cylinders and half ellipses, which swing high and low. The thin 8 to 10 centimetre thick ceiling of wire mesh covered with air-sprayed concrete has a span of 17.35 metres; it rests on the wall slabs of the corridors on the north and south sides. The hidden rooflight on the west side and the light from the corridors make the space appear light; when the sun shines, one has the impression that the vault is opening up to the sky.
The altar occupies a large part of the east side of the church space. The concrete table is enclosed by a perforated screen of white bricks. Artificial light is provided by light bulbs attached to tubes. Like chains of lights and rows of candles, the small spheres give the dynamic interior a distinctly festive atmosphere.
The Church of Bagsværd broke away from the rustic architecture of coarse red bricks and rough brown timber typical for almost every church in Denmark, and which still characterises Ravnsbjerg Church by C.F. Møller Tegnestue in Viby, Århus, dating from the same year. Kenneth Frampton saw in Bagsværd the paradox of a simultaneously regional and universal architecture. The exterior can be likened to the form of warehouses and barns; the interior, in particular the vault, resembles the sort of spatial experience produced by the fluffy white clouds that lie in tall columns over the Pacific off Hawaii. In the architect’s early sketches, one can already see an “imago mundi”, the image of man between earth and heaven and on the way to God.
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Drawings
Floor plan showing the five spatial subdivisions within the framework of the church; the main body of the church still shows the never realised central position of the altar
Longitudinal section
South elevation
Early sketch of the church space
Photos
View from the west, the bells are high up in the right flank
View onto the south flank wall, left the ambo and altar made of concrete elements
Internal Links
Originally published in: Rudolf Stegers, Sacred Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2008.