CROSS HATCHING
Yukun Fang
SSPX St. Luke Church
Type: Religion Facility
Teamed in 2
Time: 2023
Location: Toronto, Canada
Role: Design, Technical, Render, Drawing
Overview
“… sacred art should be made up of images of a transfigured future, that is, aforementioned ‘signs and symbols of heavenly realities’. Signs and symbols are the very stuff of which sacramental theology is made,… liturgical art and architecture are sacramental things, the physical expression of an invisible heavenly reality, and by implication, the built (or painted or sculpted) form of ideas. And since beautiful things by definition conform most closely in earthly matter to a heavenly prototype understood in the mind of God, beautiful liturgy and its allied arts will always begin with a heavenly component.”
Denis McNamara from Catholic Church Architecture and the Spirit of the Liturgy, Chicago 2009.
The subject of this Project, the design and construction of a new Traditional Catholic Church (Client: the SSPX), is part of a real program and site situate in the new West Donlands development/Corktown/Distillery District in downtown Toronto. It is also adjacent to the up and coming Corktown community and Distillery District within the city. It is part of a series of new communities and parks being developed under the direction of Waterfront Toronto within a mandate to counter urban sprawl and encourage sustainable growth for the city and the revitalization of the waterfront and adjacent abandoned industrial sites.
The purpose of this design is to conceptualize sacred space in architecture and develop architectonic strategies for its materialization, which continues the main theme Architectural Theology as an “au courant” and future expression of the nature of an actual sacred building problem explored through the eyes of an Architect.
Technical
Drawings
Hospice
Analysis
Structure Grid Development
The Frame of the building creates a rich and structurally stable system of architectural language through the use of several groups of column networks at different levels, which support each other and are indispensable.
PRIMARY.
Diagonal connections are made every ten columns at intervals, forming the most dominant foundation network structure.
SECONDARY.
Another group of columns is staggered with the previous group and carries the structure on the main network, making the structural network stronger and the form richer.
SUBSIDIARY.
Several small groups of subsidiary structures are interspersed between the first two groups of column networks, making the form and structural expression more complete.
TRUSS.
A set of inverted trusses connected to the main column network structure below forms the complete structural system of the building.
CEILING.
The sloping ceiling is attached to a truss structure that softly reflects the natural light from the outdoors into the interior.
DECORATION.
Two sets of staggered decorative ceilings are attached to the top and bottom of the column network, enriching the space and light expression of the building.
SIDE NAVE.
The structure of Side nave is a continuation of the Gothic church’s flying buttress structure, using the nature of the buttress to naturally form new spaces.
Design
Display
The airy space draws attention to Altar, and the dramatic and tense ceiling structure imparts a sense of sanctity to the space, which is emphasized by the vivid light and shadow.
NAVE.
A separate set of column networks mark the Altar’s location, a rich clash of materials, a huge window on the east side, and various elements emphasize the Altar’s unique sense of sacredness.
ALTAR.
The lighting system at night is integrated into the decorative elements using traditional elements, the warm light sources give the space a meditative atmosphere, the ceiling lighting uses the color of the stainglass window to continue the daytime atmosphere and create a layering effect with the wood structure below.
NAVE. night
The side nave is separated from the main nave by a series of wooden structures. By designing the wooden structures at a special angle, the side nave is visually separated from the main nave, but is still spatially connected as a subspace, adding a buffer zone to the sacred space.
