Competition proposal for Marie Kirkeplads
‘- Most importantly, Candlemas makes light visible as a symbol that is accessible to everyone in the midst of the dark winter when we long for light and spring. It is a fundamental symbolism with broad appeal, because we all live in the tension between light and darkness and can sometimes be in doubt about which is stronger - light or darkness? Here the gospel comes with a message that we humans cannot tell ourselves, namely that light is stronger than darkness,’ says Lars Nymark Heilesen. (from kristendom.dk, own translation)
The Church and the Light
The church and the religious are closely linked to light in Christianity. Both with a strong symbolic meaning as well as in a physical sense. Glass mosaics are a traditional form of decoration in many churches designed as Christian stories, just as the light in the church room can be seen as a heavenly/religious light. At the same time, the changing of the seasons and the intensity of daylight are of great importance to people, especially in northern latitudes. Church festivals and anniversaries relate to this, both in the Christian and pagan faiths.
The light in the square Maria Church Square today emphasises a special relationship with light and shadow on many levels. The church square itself is south-facing, which means that it is exposed to the sun for a large part of the time, but also that significant light/shadow conditions arise on the square, depending on the time of year. For example, the square is divided by a sharp diagonal shadow at around 3pm in May. On an early winter's day, the church facade is horizontally divided through the round window by the shadow cast by the opposite block of flats. The corner between the church tower and the church door is more or less always in shadow. The area along the fence towards Sagakarréen is the place with the most sun and the longest time in the square; from midday to a late summer evening.
Light/shade conditions
Church Foyer - The Church and the Square
The church was built in 1909 with funds raised and designed by architect Andreas Clemmensen, who also designed the building on the other side of Maria Kirkeplads. The facade facing the street is characterised by its red brick facade, the large round window and the deep pointed-arched portal on a high granite plinth.
Today the square is a grey asphalt square, undifferentiated and poorly maintained. It is complex not only in terms of its user groups, but its physical appearance, its slopes and coding, make it point in many directions.
The Maria Service has been housed in the church through the Danish Church Aid since the 1970s. Throughout its history, the church has had a great interest and care for the children of its city - especially the marginalised. The Maria Service opens its arms and heart to everyone. It shows its attitude through action - by being present to people and making no demands on their development. Here they can be as they are.
Today, the square is Copenhagen's ‘outdoor fix room’ and trading centre for hard drugs. It belongs to Maria Tjenesten's user group. At the same time, there is an expressed desire to be more of a church for everyone in Vesterbro. The church and the square should be more accessible to everyone. Due to Maria Kirke's special location in Vesterbro and Maria Tjenestens' role towards drug users, we often find that it is a special statement when other groups choose to use the church. Just as citizens in Vesterbro often express a strong sense of solidarity towards the neighbourhood's outcasts. Something that testifies to Vesterbro's historical tolerance and desire for diverse coexistence.
Maria Church is a modern church that reaches out towards its surroundings. But from the outside, the church appears visually very heavy and solemn and in stark contrast to the humanity it actually practises. The project recreates a more open and visual connection between the church and its neighbourhood.
The church care - The actors in Maria Church Square
The users of Maria Church and the actors in the square can be divided into 3 groups:
Cultural church - Baby singing, choir singing, parish work, parish council meetings etc.
Church services - High mass, baptisms, weddings, funerals, Stations of the Cross, street services
Maria Service - Unconditional openness to drug users and the like.
Today, the space is mainly used by drug users using the entrance on the eastern side of the church. However, drug users are present throughout the square, especially in niches, on doorsteps and in the corners. This is despite the fact that today there is nothing inviting to sit on the square, such as benches or the like. St Mary's Church has an unusually large number of users in its square - something we don't see in many other church squares in the country.
In addition, there is a lot of traffic to the church from its employees and users with prams. These are the users we call the cultural users who arrive through the gate at the church tower.
During church events, the church door in the south façade is opened, but during most hours of the day it appears visually closed and often unused and occupied by drug users. As a passer-by, the door is not seen as something central to the church.
”In the transmission of light there is filtration, reflection, refraction. Then there is the question of what to with that. It is not only the component of light that is passing through the material, but also the component of light that is rejected by the material… We are intentionally trying to reveal the phenomenon of transmission and.. manifest the more com- plex properties of refraction and reflection.” James Carpenter
The project:
Our main idea is to create a more open and visual connection between the church and the neighbourhood, while creating dignity for all its users. The project creates a beautiful and welcoming space that opens the church towards the rest of Vesterbro, through a simple and refined handling of the space by using light and terrain/level differences and a clear logistical management of the three user groups and their different access routes on the square to the church.
Based on the fact that the church is God's and traditionally also the house of light, which is not always accessible, we have chosen to reverse the situation so that the church's light is pulled out into the streetscape, making the square a kind of foyer to the church space itself.In the treatment of daylight and the special light/shadow conditions in relation to the square's paving, we succeeded in creating a situation that supports a tripartite division and thereby also a division in the use of the square's space.
The project creates a situation where traffic in the square, between the different users and the different entrances is separated and unhindered. At the same time, drug users are given physical conditions that give them a more dignified identity and a more sympathetic coexistence of the different users of Maria Kirkeplads can occur.
We do this by creating a colourful and dynamic space where drug users are given an area that is attractive and competitive to the entrance niches.At the same time, the edges of the square are levelled out and a homogeneous floor is created.
The Light of the Square
The democratic light: ‘God's light shines upon all of us’
The ball of light
The idea of reflecting the light of the church space led to the idea of reinventing the existing chandeliers in a new interpretation stretched across the square. In this way, the church reaches out into the public space, offering a poetic but also very straightforward reminder of the two very different worlds that meet in this particular place.The chandelier eventually found its form as a sphere that during the day can capture, filter and reflect the daylight, articulating and accentuating it as a reminder of the nature that we are still part of despite our urban life.In the evening or at special events, light shines from the church - the window in the facade onto the light sphere, which like a crystal then reflects this onto the square - the church shows that there is light in the darkness!
During church festivals and special church events, the light ball is used to create a special atmosphere/light on the forecourt.The light effect can be controlled and adjusted according to the nature of the event (e.g. pink for weddings, blue for baptisms, white for funerals etc).
The construction of the light ball consists of an open metal frame, modelled on a polyhedron, in which laminated glass pieces with different reflective and filtering properties are placed. We imagine that part of the glass will be dicroic, as this coating has an amazing visual expression in that it can simultaneously transmit, reflect and refract light. The interaction between this advanced ‘disco ball’ and the ever-changing daylight will add a beautiful, surprising and ever-changing dimension to the church forecourt and extend into the nearby streetscape.The light ball will be suspended and fixed at two points in the church facade and, like the street lighting, in the opposite facade on Istedgade.
Pop and poetry are combined in the slightly kitsch approach to light, but we believe that it characterises Vesterbro in a beautiful, poetic and innovative way.
General lighting
In addition to the light of the light ball, we work with general lighting in the square itself, so that the square's users can move around safely, even after dark.Thus, dimmed discreet lighting is placed at all steps and level jumps, and we suggest that downward, glare-free lighting be established along the fence on the east side of the church.On the church's façade, we recommend that light is built into or placed in the niches and entrances that currently appear dark and closed.This lighting suggests the relief and weight of the facade, while at the same time making the main entrance itself appear clearer and more prominent. Special light sources are deliberately used to make it difficult for drug users to see their veins, but the combination and placement of these light sources is also deliberately used as an aesthetic element.
The layout of the space
In general, we have chosen not to place furniture on the square, based on the consideration that the square must be able to withstand a lot of wear and tear.The square is used both roughly and with a high level of activity.
Therefore, the design of the square is predominantly a treatment of the terrain and paving with a strong scenography through lighting, mainly suspended above the square, paving and colours.
The paving is made of a coloured cast asphalt concrete with a play of tiny mirror reflections in varying degrees of density. The mirror reflections emphasise the play of light from the overhanging ball of light and different qualities and forms of reflections are achieved when the light hits the surface.
The specific design of the square is derived from the slopes and directions that exist today, as well as an analysis of the different user groups and access conditions to the church.
We choose to extend the floor of the church at level 0 (i.e. level with the floor of the church), thereby creating a front area in the square. The change in level from all three entrance doors to the pavement is levelled by a long sloping surface.This avoids the current seating step in the door niches and there are no level differences on the Church Square itself. The square appears as a clear and simple plateau or floor on which activities can take place.
Clear and easy access is created to both the gate in the tower, by light steps and the Church Door, either by the divided ramp or by light steps along the south-east facade of the tower.
Between these two opposing slopes, the tracks of the hearse cut into the pavement.This circular motif is repeated by keeping the existing trees free, around which gravel is laid.In the area between the two different slopes, a residual area rises 40 cm from street level to level 0 as a low sculpture.This sculpture is the only sculptural ‘furniture’ in the square that grows out of the pavement.
The square's users - the logistics of the square
We are working on opening up and making the church's actions visible to the square and the public in order to create a larger ‘customer base’ among the people of Vesterbro. The church space should benefit more of its ‘parishioners’ as well as accommodate other users such as tourists.
The church already has many events that involve the public besides the Maria Service, which are less visible to the general public.
By creating more dignified conditions for the current drug users and the part of the church's activities linked to the Maria Service, it will be possible to manage their stay at the site. The idea is to offer something better than what they have today in order to attract and retain them in other areas of the site, creating a real alternative.
While offering a sunlit area in front of the fence towards the Sagakarré, their stay in the Church's niches is limited by creating a combination of limited task lighting and decorative lighting.
We create two seating options that do not appear as benches or plinths in the square, but appear as paving changes and do not exceed Kote 0.0.
One is designed as a semicircle under the tree facing the street.The square is for everyone and invites you to take a rest on your way.Due to its proximity to the pavement and the fact that the situation is unshielded, its use will appear social and conversational.Behind, towards the back tree and up against the fence, there will be another seating option, formed by the space between the edge of the armoured car and the circle of the fence towards the sagakarré. It is an area close to the Maria Service entrance that is secluded from the life of the square. A few semi-transparent screens demarcate the area. Here you are cut off from, but still a part of, the life of the square and still visual from the street.
This gives the impression of a beautiful square where a small group of people can spend time in the square and towards the street and where there are others sitting more privately in the back.
The focus is removed from the current ‘unregulated use of door niches’ in an ugly asphalt square to a beautiful experience of colour, dynamism and dignity.
