Taivallahti Church, Helsinki Finland

Abstract

When this building was designed, an attempt was made to have the lot retain its open-space nature within the densely populated vicinity in which it is located. To achieve this end, an excavation was made to the street level in the rock mass more than 10 meters high which dominates the lot into which the main part of the church has been built. The rest of the dependencies, such as the vicarage, the technical stations, the control room and the club locations, were situated around the rock, adapting themselves as much as possible to its shape. Whenever possible, the rock itself was used as integral part in the construction of the temple, while the remaining walls, both inside and outside, were constructed using ordinary stone masonry. A dome, made up of a radial system of reinforced-concrete beams, covers the church. In its upper part, a skylight built with a metal frame and insulatingglass panels allows natural light to illuminate the interior space. The entire complex is characterized by its good adaptation to the landscape.