Description

The conversion of the Friedenskirche church in Bochum-Stahlhausen into a community centre and the redesign of the church space which takes into account the diverse multi-cultural community in the neighbourhood. The Friedenskirche was a typical church building of the 1960s with parish rooms and a sexton’s house. At the end of the 1990s, initial adaptations were made to reflect the decreasing number of parishioners, and the parish rooms and sexton’s house were let. 15 years later the parish had shrunk further and the church building needed renovation. The recent, second conversion therefore makes more significant interventions to the building fabric and the church’s function.

The church now serves as a protestant centre for intercultural and interreligious district work and is based on a concept developed jointly by the architects, the parish and the Association for multi-cultural children and young people (IFAK e.V.). Funding was provided by the state church and IFAK along with EU subsidies and urban redevelopment funds.

The altar area was separated from the original high church room with gallery, which is covered by a monopitch roof. A new “Room of Peace” was created here for services, which is also open to visitors to the district centre. The remaining, larger section of the church now serves as a parish hall and place for events. A new extension has been added to the existing building to house a foyer with café, rooms for work with migrants and parish offices. Its new function is reflected in its new name “Q1 – Eins im Quartier. Haus für Kultur, Religion und Soziales im Westend” (Q1: Neighbourhood Unity – Cultural, Religious and Social Centre in the Westend).

Jury statement: The actual heart of the new community centre is the “Room of Peace” which is both open and sheltering. This ambiguity reflects the programme of the new centre. The resulting complex is conceptually and architecturally a new and attractive centre for Bochum-Stahlhausen.

Originally published in Bauwelt 36.2016, pp. 22-29, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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