Is that a church?

[Tony]

I'd like to open a debate about a phenomenon that has been going on for several decades now , the architectonic modernization of the churches , in wich architects give up classical styles to adopt new ones , more aseptic and unrecognizable.
I've thought a lot about this issue and reached a conclusion , the reason behind this change is neither purely artistic nor the simple modernization for the sake of modernization , it's a subconscious answer of the Church to a society than no longer can stand christian values and christians per se.
Everyday we witness the attacks from international organizartions , EU , intellectuals , leftists , muslims and jews against the Christendom , under attack , just like in the early years when christians had to hide themselves into the catacombs , bishops and the all clergy feel subconsciously the need to mimetize themselves and the christian symbols in order to not dirturbe the muslim/atheistic masses , to make it short today churches have not to looks like churches in order to avoid intellectual and juridic persecution.

Also post examples of these new kind of "submissive" pseudo-Churches.

The "cube" by Massimiliano Fuksas , just built in Foligno.

[Osweo]

Yuck! 'Ugly as sin'.

You should see Bowburn Church in County Durham. I first came upon it by surprise, in a long walk at late evening. I felt it to be evil!


I'm a little sad it was demolished though, I liked to take people there to see their reactions!

[Óttar]

This is just the culmination of the departure from the Romanesque and Byzantine style.

[Osweo]

This is just the culmination of the departure from the Romanesque and Byzantine style.

As though Gothic were any less durable a style? I'm not sure I see what you're getting at. It was inevitable that your two styles wouldn't last in the north.

[Óttar]

As though Gothic were any less durable a style? I'm not sure I see what you're getting at. It was inevitable that your two styles wouldn't last in the north.

Gothic excepted. The Protestants started the trend when any old turdburgling farmer with a barn and two pieces of wood can make a church.

[Cato]

Christians just need to go back to kicking ass as per the Crusades.


"Allahu akbar? Deus vult instead!"

[Amarantine]

Tony, agreed with you and the others, that can't be a Church, at least not proper church in the name of Christ.

[Kadu]

One of the best churches built in the last times. Pairing Tadao Ando in this matter.

The building consists of two parallelepipeds inserted one inside the other so as to create three naves.
The first, external structure is made of reinforced concrete treated with wax, whereas the second is made of cellular cement and pierced with rays of light from different sources. The lateral naves are crossed vertically by a structure that supports the internal box as well as giving off rays of light that in the poetry of architecture become chains. Therefore light is materialized, both structurally and poetically. The monolithic reinforced concrete exterior of the building counterbalances the weightlessness of the interior, which is outlined in light.
Natural and artificial light are further brought together by the artist Maurizio Nannucci’s installation, where verses from the Bible are written in thin neon lightning.
The church is entered across a bridge and walkway in order to avoid the use of stairs and to underline the role of the churchyard. The actual entrance consists of a vertical cut on one side of the external parallelepiped, which creates a symbolic split, a point of contact with the interior.

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[Treffie]

I love the look of it - very pleasing on the eye, clean cut lines etc.

Heaven is said to resemble to shape of a cube anyway (according to Revelation), so I think it may have been built with reference to that.

[Tony]

I love the look of it - very pleasing on the eye, clean cut lines etc.

The point is not one's personal taste but the fact that they don't look like churches , if you were shown that building without knowing what it was would you have realized that it is actually a church?
My theory is that today christians are blamed for being oldfashioned , conservatives , homophobic and what else so that even the christians themselves have started to feel ashamed for their public displaying of their symbols , including churches.

Heaven is said to resemble to shape of a cube anyway (according to Revelation), so I think it may have been built with reference to that.

It also resemble the Kaaba...