The new building for the New Apostolic congregation of Laim-Pasing bears reference to the street and the listed residential complex planned by the town planner Theodor Fischer. 

 

The guiding principle of the competition design “journey into light“ is expressed by the organisation of the building, the light openings and also by the brightness and materiality of the surfaces and the interior design including the organ and the altar.

 

The main volume of the building, the sacred space, is covered with a multilayer limestone surface plaster, which gives the room an abstract and special character in collaboration with the fine play of light. The white corpus of the church is set back from the adjacent grey buildings, producing a forecourt which provides a contemplative free space with an urban joint function. A bright cross seems to be floating freely over a water pool in front of the shimmering white facade.

 

The church hall, which opens up from the centre of the building, can be enlarged linearly with sliding walls until it reaches the protected garden area. It can be varied in many ways, the flexibility contributing to the requirements of the modern community life. This room concept enables the combination of organ playing, worship service, pastoral care and education and also the extension of the main space from 250 to 500 seats for large services. The accurate acoustical tuning of the building and the interior design enables the   compatibility of organ playing, choir and spoken word.

 

The altar wall, shrouded in a 'cloud of light', in conjunction with the lighting from above, creates a diurnally fluctuating atmosphere by way of natural light, that discreetly enlivens the room. The sacred room, protected from external influences, is a place where the natural environment becomes abstractly perceptible, whilst simultaneously offering the possibility to retreat and reflect.

 

The church is a zero-emission building and feeds energy surpluses into the public grid. In this way, a respectful use of our natural resources, the 'protection of creation', is brought into harmony with a long-term economic and low-cost maintenance.

 

Featured in the architectural tour ’Architektouren’ of the Bayerische Architektenkammer (Association of Bavarian Architects) 2014.