Bagsværd Church - Jørn Utzon

architecture church daylight Daylight Design indoor environment

1. Project Name Bagsværd Church
2. Architect Jørn Utzon
3. Client Parish of Bagsværd Sogn, Copenhagen
4. Date 1967 – 1976
5. Location 55°45'42.0"N 12°26'40.0"E

THE ARCHITECT

Jørn Utzon was a Danish architect whose work is fundamentally rooted in the tectonic branch of modernism. Although his most famous work is by far and away the Sydney opera house, the Bagsværd Church is perhaps one of his most important with Frampton noting that it “represents the built apotheosis of [his] tectonic vision to date”. Light plays an integral role in Utzon’s architecture in general which is no doubt as a result of early childhood experiences. As a young child, Utzon’s family radically rethought the way they lived in accordance with functionalist ideals which brought the experience of light and space to the fore of Utzon’s consciousness. This in turn served to define the direction of Utzon’s architectural career. Many of his early projects make clear his intent to master the art of designing with sunlight; both his Kingo Houses and Fredensborg Houses display a fluency in daylight design on the domestic scale. However, it was not until the Bagsværd Church before the architect was able to experiment with daylighting on a civic scale.

THE LOCATION

THE SITE

Although completed in 1976, the original idea for the church at Bagsværd was conceived almost 10 year prior. In 1967, off the back of his design proposal for the Farum Town Centre, the congregational council for the parish of Bagsværd, who were seeking the construction of a new church in Bagsværd, invited Utzon to Formulate a design. The following year, Utzon presented a proposal which satisfied the leaders within the parish, however it wouldn’t be until 1973 before the project received building permission. The site on which the project was to be located was somewhat awkward. Firstly, it was incredibly narrow, measuring at only 40 x 100 meters. Secondly, it was located against a busy thoroughfare. The Later had a considerable influence on the final design as Utzon believed the role of a Christian church was to link people regardless of context. As a result, Utzon sought to isolate the interior of the church from the noise of the exterior as much as possible, such is the reason for the heavy perimeter seen in plan. There is almost perfect dissonance between the interior and the exterior of the church. The north and south elevations are incredibly austere and devoid of fenestration. It’s exterior presentation has been likened in many ways to the functionalist grain silos which captivated so many of the modernist forefathers. Emphasis is drawn away from the seemingly monolithic perimeter walls through the careful placement of birch trees, which, now in a mature state, successfully demonumentalise the buildings presentation. Despite the lack of windows along the perimeter walls, the interior space is incredibly rich and genial. Within those exterior walls is situated a ring of inhabitable space lit from above with a continuous skylight serving as a buffer zone between the business of the exterior and the reverence of the interior. In a way, the dissonance between interior and exterior is quite sympathetic to traditional religious design I that is creates a sense of introversion within. As Schwarz describes it: “[the building] turns inward from the everyday world to offer, in its place, a transcendent realm with a focus on the eternal through a symbolic vertical orientation linking earth and sky”

THE PROJECT

In the Bagsværd Church, Utzon treats daylight as more than just a functional requirement, daylight integral to the reverent atmosphere created within the building and in fact serves to define many of its attributes. By all accounts, the Bagsværd Church can be considered good example of daylight design. Firstly, Utzon’s daylight considerations are fundamentally responsive to the site conditions. Given the latitude of Copenhagen, the nature of available tends to be pretty extreme. In summer skies are generally clear meaning for lots of direct sunlight, while in winter, days are considerably shorter, and the sun only reaches a maximum altitude of 11° on the solstice, increasing the capacity for glare. In order to deal with the issue of glare, Utzon’s design includes almost no direct side lighting, instead making predominant use of indirect and top lighting in recognition that the sky dome is the only reliable source of light year round. Additionally, the orientation of the building is very calculated. The main sanctuary within the church is lit primarily by a row windows looking west running the full width of the space at the high point of the ceiling. The function of this window is twofold; it is functional and atmospheric. Mornings, when most church services are held, the chapel is evenly lit by a wash of skylight with no direct sun rays. This Light also serves to accentuate the verticality of the space, reinforcing the reverent atmosphere present and fundamentally underpinning the spaces function as a place of reflection and worship. Finally, the scope of Utzon’s design is sympathetic with the budget of the project. The budget for the project wasn’t particularly expansive which is in fact one of the key reasons why there is such dissonance between interior and exterior; more emphasis was put on the spatial experience of the interior the presentation on the exterior. Budgetary limitations can, in a way, be credited for the uniquity of the design. Utzon was forced into formulating a solution which did not compromise his clear vision of what the sacred space should feel while also not having any novel daylighting solutions at his disposal. The resulting design is simply a display of masterful manipulation of simple geometric forms.

Bagsværd Church - Jørn Utzon

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Bagsværd Church - Jørn Utzon

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