studio tngtetshiu


 


Church of Church
Tainan, Taiwan, 2021


In the 1960s, Taiwan experienced significant social development and political changes, leading to the construction of numerous new churches of varying scales. Many of these churches adopted existing structural systems used for factory warehouses, which are cost-effective and efficient construction methods. One such example is St. Raphael Catholic Church, built in 1961. Located on a narrow piece of land in the city, the church’s narrow access road gives it a character of being independent from the urban environment. After several years of being idle, the church wishes to repurpose part of its space to serve as an office for a community children’s early intervention service foundation while retaining its original function and sanctity of a church.

The design focuses on the relationship between the building types and the internal spatial organization, attempting to address the classical proposition of symmetry found in Western church building types. In this project, a building is considered as an independent object keeping a certain distance from its environment. The difference between the sanctuary and the newly incorporated office space represents the contrast between a spiritual space that seeks inner peace and a social space that connects with the public. We use “duality” as the core concept of this design, paying attention to the composition and proportion relationship of the plan and section, and organizing the new and old spaces using the spatial technique of “segmentation.”

The exterior maintains the overall integrity of the original church building, with a steel frame system inserted inside to separate the sanctuary and the office area. This creates a parallel system with scale differences that reference each other alongside the wooden truss system of the church’s roof. The original rectangular space of 18m x 9m is divided into two independent square spaces of 9m x 9m each, changing our perception of the elongated scale typical of church architecture.

The position of the new altar in the sanctuary has been significantly adjusted to maintain the central axis of the original main entrance, distinguishing it from the entrance to the office area on the other side. The church, which originally had a single frontal façade, now has two misaligned central axes due to the incorporation of the office space. After experiencing these two seemingly different yet subtly related spaces as a unified spatial experience, the spatial narrative of “duality” is finally realized.
六零年代時，臺灣因社會發展與政治因素，陸續新建為數不少，不同規模的教堂，其中不乏基於經濟考量，沿用當時既有興建工廠倉庫的結構系統，以非常簡單有效率的建造方式完成的小教堂，1961年建堂的聖辣法爾天主堂即是這樣的教堂類型。它位於都市中狹長的土地之中，狹窄的聯外通路塑造了教堂獨立於都市之外的性格，在閒置了數年後，教會期望將教堂部分空間調整為社區孩童早療服務基金會辦公空間，並保有原教堂功能與神聖性。

設計關注建築類型與內部空間組織關係，試圖回應西方教堂建築類型中的古典命題—對稱性。建築被視為與環境保持一定距離而獨立的物件，聖堂與新置入辦公空間的差異，即是追求個人內心平靜的精神性空間與連結大眾的社會性空間的對比，我們以「雙重性」(duarity)作為本設計的核心觀念，關注平面與剖面的構成與比例關係，以「分割」的空間手法組織新舊空間。外觀維持原教堂建築的整體感，內部置入一組鋼構框架系統將聖堂與辦公區完全區分開，和教堂屋頂木桁架結構系統形成一組尺度差異相互參照的平行系統，原18m*9m的長方形空間被分割成兩個各自獨立，9m*9m的正方形平面空間，改變我們對教堂建築類型縱長尺度感的認知。聖堂新祭台的位置作了大幅度的調整，為的是維持原教堂的中軸主入口，與另一側辦公區入口區分。原本單一正立面的教堂，因為辦公空間的置入，讓建築有了兩個中軸相互錯位的正立面，在經驗過兩個看似完全不同卻隱隱相關的空間成為一個整體空間經驗後，「雙重性」的空間敘事終得以體現。


Client: Tobias Social Welfare Foundation
Location: Tainan, Taiwan
Program: Church, Office
Design: 2019 - 2020
Completion: 2021
Photo: Studio Millspace

業主 : 社福基金會
基地位置 : 臺灣臺南市
主要用途 :教堂、辦公空間
設計時間 : 2019 - 2020
完工時間 : 2021
攝影 : 揅空間工作室