Church for our time
A reader sent me a link to an article that included the following picture.
I had some hope that it wouldn't be a Catholic Church, though this being predominately Catholic Malta I knew the chance was slim. The explanation behind the design is unintentionally hilarious. The type of stuff that makes parody difficult when real-world explanations like these exist.
The designs for the Hal-Farrug church are the ones that will eventually be presented to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. Prof. England said the church "has been conceived primarily as a church for our time; a composite structure based on a geometry of rotations, inclinations, oscillations and fluctuations.
"This apparent anti-order of forms may be read as a reflection of not only the current overall general global agitation but also of the present turbulence and difficulties being encountered today by the Catholic Church itself as an institution.
"The dark inclined entrance tunnel provides the visitor with a 'rite of passage' transition from external secular space to internal sacred space. One cannot approach a sacred space casually!
Though approaching this one you might become a casualty from all the sharp objects.
"The tunnel entrance is therefore conceived as a pathway that prepares the churchgoers, a profane shadowland threshold which opens at its end to the exuberant illuminated light well of the church interior. For internally the church is washed and bathed in light, a light clothed arena which attempts, with its inclined cylindrical masses, to manifest in architectural terms Pope John Paul II's requisites for sacred spaces as laid out in his Letter to Artists: 'the functional must be wedded to the creative impulse, yet always inspired by a sense of the beautiful together with an intuition of mystery'.
I have a feeling this structure is not what Pope John Paul II was getting at, especially since the paragraph he quoted from talked about Baroque and Romanesque architecture and he further said "Art must make perceptible, and as far as possible attractive, the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God. It must therefore translate into meaningful terms that which is in itself ineffable." This structure only illustrates the world of the spirit if the subject is psychotic.
"The function of the church today is to bring people forward to meet God in a space where man's spirit is rejuvenated. We must not forget that despite the fact that our current age has provided great and significant strides in the field of scientific knowledge and communications, man still today knows least about what matters most. The interior also incorporates a meditation chapel and baptistery both also conceived as top-lit inclined and convoluted cylinders," Prof. England said.
When an architect starts with an "it's all about us" idea such as a place for men's sprits to be rejuvenated vice a structure created to be a house of prayer and worship of God you end up with structures that do neither.
The subterranean chapel looking at Filfla is constructed by burrowing into the rock and producing a window which looks out over the waters focusing on the small island.
"From the seaside, the chapel assumes a different scale. Superimposed over the diminutive opening is an oversized cross, illuminated at night, scaled to relate to the magnitude of the towering overpowering cliff face. After sunset the two access towers housing lift and stairs to the chapel level are also lit up in order to appear from a distance as invitational beacon-candles framing the top edge of the vertical arm of the cross," Prof. England said.
In a poetic-religious vein, Prof. England explained the setting in his mind's eye: "One sits on the rock-cut steps within this man-made cavern silently in prayer with a meditational eye looking out to the isle hovering between the womb of the earth and the navel of the sea, between the not yet and the no longer, as the wind dances on the silver surface of the ever-changing sea in a silent hymn of spiritual exhilaration.
"The site retains its hallowed sanctity as a mystical place of veneration in a transformation into what will hopefully become a contemporary Mediterranean altar of truce for this turbulent arena of violence... a sanctuary of peace tied to the sky, bound to the sea and chained to the earth, balanced between remembrance and desire," he mused.
Could any body have an idea what the internal structure looks like from that description? This guy would drive a police artist insane.
Now to be balanced and not overly negative I will try to come up with some positive aspects of the design. I don't know if Malta is prone to earthquakes or not. If it is this is a good design since even if a earthquake hit you wouldn't have to do any repair. How could anybody tell the difference? If you were Fred Flintstone wouldn't you think this church is a fine edition for the city of Bedrock?
Doing some research on Prof. England I discovered that as a child when given a dexterity test involving blocks and pegs and various shape holes he spent most of the day trying the following.
In fact this proved to be a traumatic event and was instrumental in his obsession with children's blocks.
You can see how the original mockup evolved into the first conceptual drawing.
Known as 
Prof. England said the Church " . . . has a composite structure based on a gemometry of rotations, inclinations, oscillations and Flatulation
Why does anyone need a separate "meditation chapel"? Why not meditate before the Blessed Sacrament. Oh, wait a minute... I bet... no reserved Blessed Sacrament in this church, right?
And where would the "navel of the sea" be?
Well, anyway, if there's ever an earthquake and the church is reduced to rubble, no one will be able to tell the difference. (We have a convention center in my city that looks something like this, except it's all rectangles, parallelograms, and trapezoids. Every time I drive out-of-town guests past it, they yelp, "What the h*** happened to those buildings?")
Actually, I really like the building. Not as a church, though.
I look at it as a design inspired by gifted toddlers.
BMP
It is so ugly, I am speechless.
God help us all!
Speaking of churches in this style...I'm not sure if you've seen this one before Jeff, but it's pretty much "just down the road" for you...
St. Mary's in Rockledge, FL. (and yes...I know it looks like they need to replace their web designer as much as their building designer...but trust me, the pictures don't do this one justice, as it is just staggering to see in person).
That jumble of children's blocks is EXACTLY what I was thinking of when I saw this mess---"Mom, Goliath just kicked my castle over again!" The description of "sacred spaces" does not at all match this confusion of squares and circles.
"Doctors can bury their mistakes; bad architecture is much harder to dispose of."
In defense of toddlers, I think my 2 yr old could do better.
Looks like it's just been hit by a tornado or an earthquake (is this symbolic in any way, I wonder)....
I'm thinkin big rolls, and bricks and cheese. If you can't come up with the talent and beauty, then make it so ugly someone will notice it. Sad.
I thought it was the new cathedral in L.A.
I thought the LA cathedral was the ugliest, but apparently there's some stiff competiton out there...
My brother has been asking me if the blocks are really the church coloured in or not. Good job, Jeff!
I have an extreme urge to take some Ludes and run there naked. I need to enter the tunnel entrance and co-mingle with my other-saint friends. We must reach the navel chained to the sky in our overly dramatic drug indunced post-earthquake and so modern experience.
Please, apply shock therapy to me, so I can go to a real church and remember that architects should think with their heads and not their tunnels!
I think that in Professor England's case, the Witch of the East beat Dorothy and her 3 friends, and sold Toto into sexual slavery to the flying monkeys. Someone should help him go through Wizard of Oz Re-birth Therapy that he so badly needs. Lack of Childhood anyone? Could be!
Jeff the blocks and the whole post are incredible! Viva la Jester!
OK, I tend to be a "live and live" person when it comes to sacred space...I mean, Jesus preached in the streets, in homes, on boats, wherever...but that building is ***truly whacked***. Wow. (laughing)
I thought someone had just unpacked a grocery bag full of toilet paper and paper towels....I guess not!
GK - your comment left me hysterical!!!
My four year old, when asked what he thought of this church, said, "It is bad. It looks like it had been broken down." He especially likes the waving Pope Benedict graphic on the side, though, and keeps waving back to the picture!
I'm in the minority on this one, but I LIKE this building. I don't know about the interior, but I like the fact that the only upright portion of the exterior is the one upon which stands the cross. Then again, I also like the cathedral of La Sagrada Familia, and I know many people who think that it's ugly and should have been torn down decades ago. :)
Thanks for making me feel better, Kelly. Now I know I'm not the only one who waves back. Darn these deceptive graphics!
St. Mary's looks like some of the bad CGI in older versions of Everquest.
Not that I'VE ever played Everquest or anything...
duuuuuuhhhhhmmmmmm...the cross is nice.
God does not worship the work of His own hands, for that would be idolitry ... we are the work of His hands, so we are the ones who do the worshipping ... but, and it must be asked, what are the works of our hands?
Clearly, to do such a thing demonstrates, at best, a complete lack of cognition of the concept of worship, or, at worst, a complete lack of respect for the concept of worship. Either way, somebody is bloody well going to get the crap slapped out of him on Judgment Day by the hands that crafted him.
If I seem a bit Augustinian ... I am.
Someone should hang an enormous notice above the entrance:
HELP! I'VE FALLEN AND I CAN'T GET UP.
(God help us ... I don't even want to KNOW what it cost to build that eyesore)
How on earth did this get past the diocesan planning committee?
What an embarrassment.
St. Mary's looks like it was inspired by a crop circle or three. This one well... at first I thought it was an observatory, then spare parts; now I just hope it becomes a children’s art museum, that is all it really has going for it.
And Catholic Exchange had such a nice article on Malta. Oh well God made all sorts, right?
Maybe it was built on a labyrinth.
It's somewhat reminiscent of the design of the sactuary of Divine Mercy at Łagiewniki Kraków, but lacks the elegance of Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp.
I'd like to see some of your designs...
This line is hilarious to me:
"This apparent anti-order of forms may be read as a reflection of not only the current overall general global agitation but also of the present turbulence and difficulties being encountered today by the Catholic Church itself as an institution."
So, because there has been some conflict in the church, the buildings should look conflicted as well? Gimme a break.