Church in Kanagawa
Not far from the coast of Sagami Bay, situated in a tranquil, small-scale setting in the Shonan region, is a new church whose curvaceous roofscape is an attention grabber. Although the number of Christians in Japan is very small, the previous church building – which had reached the ripe old age of fifty – could no longer hold the entire congregation. Because it is only one storey high and has well-balanced proportions, the new concrete church is harmonically integrated in the surrounding, predominantly residential neighbourhood. The Japanese architect drew inspiration from the Hexaemeron – according to the Book of Genesis, the six days in which the world was created – for the design of the roof construction, which is comprised of six reinforced-concrete arc segments that span the 175 square metre interior. The arcs vary in size. By playfully staggering their height, the architect arrived at the dynamic, irregular form.
