St Barnabas Church | fjmt | francis-jones morehen thorp

St Barnabas church and adjacent community hall, located on Sydney’s busy Broadway, were destroyed by fire in May 2006. A Sydney institution for over 145 years, efforts to rebuild the church began almost immediately. The architecture of the new church complex seeks to respond to the qualities and great opportunity of this special site in the city, and equally importantly, to the great sense of openness, welcoming and joy that characterises St Barnabas. The new church offers a peaceful oasis of gathering and worship within the busy noise of the city. It provides a balance of open courtyard, landscaped gardens, informal and formal, fixed and flexible spaces. At the centre of the church is the informal social-heart gathering spaces and the calm peaceful space of worship. The gentle rising curved volumes of the worship space characterise and focus the appearance of the church in the city. The worship space, with its folding floor that wraps up around the congregation and opens up to soft cloud-like ceilings, is conceived like an open-hand under the sky; a warm, protective, generous and light-fill space. Complementing the worship space is the counter-curved form of the foyer and social-heart that rises in a gesture of welcome and invitation to the central landscaped courtyard. Separating these curved forms and courtyard from the street are the linear sheltering frame and canopies that define the entrance streetscape and steps up to the courtyard. These fine frames of off-form concrete open to the street though large windows that accommodate the shop and meeting spaces beneath the awning canopies that project out over the footpath. The forms of this church are structured, assembled and finished in simple, modest materials, concrete, compressed cement sheet, steel and glass. fjmt have approached the design of a new St Barnabas Anglican Church with the intent of creating a unique church complex that responds to the qualities and great opportunity of this special site in the city and equally importantly to the great sense of openness, welcoming and joy that characterises the parish. Inspiration came from visits and participation in the services of St Barnabas. The design for a new church complex seeks to reflect the values, aspirations and reverence of the congregation. The new church will offer a peaceful oasis of gathering and worship within the busy noise of the city. It will provide a balance of open courtyard, landscaped gardens, informal and formal, fixed and flexible. At the centre of the church will be the informal social heart gathering spaces and the calm peaceful space of worship. The gentle rising curved volumes of the worship space characterise and focus the appearance of the church in the city. This form rises up and opens to the warmth of the northern reflected light and looks out to a modest and peaceful enclosed court with the cross form elevation at its centre. Complementing the form of the worship space is the curved form of the foyer and social-heart that rises in a gesture of welcome and invitation to the central landscaped forecourt / courtyard. Separating these curved forms and courtyard from the street is the linear sheltering frame and canopies that define the entrance complex and courtyard. These finely framed volumes open to the street through large windows accommodating the shop and meeting spaces and beneath the sheltering canopies that project out over the footpath. The forms of this church are finished in simple modest natural materials, durable and lasting, predominantly white in colour to receive the sun and gently reflect the natural daylight. The complex has been designed to create a low energy, predominantly naturally ventilated, sustainable project that can be a model and benchmark of environmental sustainability. INVITATION AND WELCOME A sense of invitation and welcoming will characterise the new church. At Broadway this invitation is via a beautiful, landscape mall, forecourt and vista towards the distinctive church entry. At Mountain Street the invitation is via the gentle seating steps that lead up to the peaceful landscaped courtyard and forecourt, or via the generous main entry that opens wide and directly onto Mountain Street. The sense of invitation and welcome is further emphasised through the generous sheltering canopies that characterise the address to Broadway and Mountain Street. All of these welcoming entry points lead directly to the centre of the complex, the Social Heart. SOCIAL AND SPIRITUAL A peaceful open courtyard is proposed as a community space of gathering and forecourt to the church. This paved and landscaped courtyard is raised up above the street separating it from the busy world of retail and commercial activity, to create a peaceful contemplative gathering space. A gently sloping open pedestrian mall connects the new courtyard with Broadway. This mall is characterised by a grove of deciduous trees, sculptural form and seating to create a sense of gentle transition and invitation. A generous flight of stairs connects the new courtyard with Mountain Street creating a sense of separation and address to the Street. These generous steps create natural seating and meeting space addressing the street and sheltered under the canopy overhead. SOCIAL HEART At the centre of the new complex is the ‘social heart’; a welcoming social space over two levels that is the common arrival point and gathering space. This is the primary space of welcoming and gathering open directly to the street and courtyard / forecourt with a lofty sense of height and spirit and generous natural light reflected softly from the curved ceilings and directly through the crucifix of light above. This is intended as an informal gathering and social space with the kitchen and café type bar/counter opening onto this generous area and direct access to the major spaces of the church. The function spaces and meeting rooms at the lower-ground level and the primary worship space is raised up on the upper-ground level. WORSHIP AND GATHERING Complementing the social heart of the complex is the primary worship space. This generous volume has been designed to create a sense of aspiration, peace and contemplation, a place for gathering, collective worship and prayer as well as individual meditation and prayer. The space is lit naturally from high-level skylights that wash light gently over a series of soft, curved surfaces. The worship space has been carefully proportioned and scaled with a series of side aisles and changing ceiling height to be a space equally comfortable for a congregation of 100 or 500. The interconnectivity of the worship space to its milling space and outdoor space reinforces the welcoming nature of the building and when the doors are open allows views from the open space directly into the worship space and vice versa. MATERIALITY The external materials and finishes primarily consist of standard materials used in a manner which reflects a high level of design and detail. At the entries to the building, the transparency of the interior function to the outside is maximised by full height glass foyer walls [2 storeys to Mountain St]. This allows the activities of the building to be viewed from the street and from the open plaza. The transparency and “shop front” style glazing continues along Mountain St, reflecting the materiality of the adjacent buildings at ground level. Privacy to the spaces beyond is provided through external louvres [St Barnabas St] and interior wooden blinds to Mountain St. OPERATIONS AND CIRCULATION Arrival There are two formal entrances to the Main Worship Space, either along the ramp from Broadway or up the ceremonial staircase from Mountain Street. These two entrances converge in a generous courtyard in front of the main foyer. The building can also be entered through the lower level of the foyer off Mountain Street. The upper and lower levels of the foyer are connected visually through voids, and with a stair case opposite the entry During Services During services, most of the congregation are contained within the major meeting spaces, the Main Worship Space, The Multi-Use Hall, and the Meeting rooms. Other rooms such as the crying room, and the large kitchen, and toilet facilities, may also be operational. Between Services The time between services provides an excellent opportunity for the various groups of people to meet. The people will move from the major meeting spaces into the double height foyer, which is located close to the kitchen for refreshments. When larger numbers of people are present, there is also the opportunity to breakout into the courtyard space. LIGHTING Lighting Design PhilosophyLight is a fundamental part of life. We intuitively perceive and experience our world through light. uences our health, it reaches our emotions, it inspires us. Our lighting design philosophy for St Barnabas Church aims to create a sustainable atmosphere, not only in terms of energy efficiency, safety, cost and flexibility; but more importantly in terms of human experience and well-being. Outside Lighting treats the building as a sculpture within its context, and creates/enhances the meaning of it within its surroundings, subtly highlighting the architectural forms of the exteriors, giving orientation and guiding movement. It glows from inside, and attracts the people to walk in, to experience this special place. Inside Lighting reveals the architecture to create the experience of being in a peaceful, sacred place. Both daylight and artificial light diffuses in the space, evenly and softly illuminating the surfaces brightly, giving the feeling of spirituality and comfort. Light sources are concealed within the architecture and do not become visible glare points that interfere with the visual beauty of the space. The warmth of the timber creates a greater level of complexity and variation on the Mountain St Elevation, as well as providing glare control. The primary concrete structure is expressed as a frame to the Mountain St elevation infilled with pale coloured cladding panels. The frame continues beyond the building envelope providing the structure to a sheltering canopy over the seating steps. The underside of this canopy is also pale to allow good reflection of light at night for illumination of the exterior space. Facing Broadway, the cross-like form of the upper walls allows light to emit from the interiors between the solid, tiled surfaces. In constrast to the smooth paneled faces of the church elevations, an interpretive wall is proposed along the western façade of the plaza, which will reuse the remnant material of the church creating a random texture pattern of brick and stone. The roof of the church is proposed to be similar in material to the vertical elements so that the form reads as a unified shell. A rain-screen construction allows for a standard metal profile roof under with a panellised system over. It is intended that a fine grained pattern is achieved through the detailing of the cladding panels both on the roof and walls which is continued through the framing of the glazing. Maintaining a simplicity to the material allows the form of the overall project to be emphasised as well as allowing the interiors [through transparency] to become and integral part of the streetscape and open space. IN CONCLUSION It is a rare and privileged situation to be the Architectural Studio chosen to design a church. It is particularly exciting and challenging in an urban environment, where the building should respond to its typology as both a public and religious building as well as catering for the expanding and changing brief of a dynamic parish and community. The new St Barnabas church is an exercise of urban design as much as it is a building evolving from a brief. Its context, in built form, in social environment and in philosophy, drive its resolution and require it to respond to more than a few stakeholders. It is hoped that the building will be a focal point not only for its direct community [St Barnabas Church and the Anglican Church], but will reach the wider Sydney / Pyrmont community and nearby educational facilities.