Chigasaki Zion Christian Church/Mihato Kindergarten, Chigasaki-shi, Japan. Architect: Tezuka Architects, 2013. Church cross.
Dual Purpose church and Kindergarten in Chigasaki-shi Japan. On approaching the Chigasaki-Zion Church one must first confront its clear, elliptical form, with a stark absence of angles and an enveloping presence. Though the form may, at first, seem to be an odd choice for a church, the simple, geometric parti is intended to create a deep connection with the sacred. Unlike the unilateral and hierarchical arrangement inherent to the Catholic basilica type, the communal, atmosphere of the Chigasaki-Zion Church is a space where hierarchies of power between God, the pastor, and the congregation begin to dissolve. This, of course, is part and parcel with the core values of protestantism; the ellipse is a shape that lends itself toward a more democratic spatial orientation, closing the gap between the pastor and the congregation and ensuring that no one parishioner is more important than the next.
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Photo credit: © Edmund Sumner-VIEW / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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