Project name
Location
Competition
Design
Gross floor area

Ålesund church
Ålesund, Norway
international open competition
2009
2680m2

The competition entry for Ålesund church in Norway is partly hidden underground so that only the three slate stone clad sacral spaces emerge from the landscape like boulders in the forest. This way the beautiful site can be kept almost entirely in its natural state and the noise of traffic from the adjacent road is avoided. The church is approached by climbing the church hill with an outdoor amphitheatre. The entrance leads through a glass wall cut in the rock. The freely placed rectangular hall volumes border an intimate church square.
The interiors of the sacral spaces differ remarkably from the dark heavy and orthogonal exterior: inside the boxes there are warm spaces clad with massive logs laid over each other to create a free nest like form. In contrast with the lobby spaces with open mountain views the sacral spaces are self-centered emphasizing the collective church service, like the motto Sammen (together).