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| | RADARINTERIOR Worship, assembly, musical performance and theatre are all elegantly
accommodated in a new chapel by Phillips/Pilkington. Rachel Hurst reports.
Photos Grant Hancock.
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The new chapel and administration
building for Pedare Christian College, in the
Adelaide suburb of Golden Grove,
demonstrates that designing for multiple
clients and maximum flexibility need not be
a recipe for compromise. Designed by
Phillips/Pilkington Architects in collaboration
with the JamFactory’s Contemporary Design
Studio, the project was developed for the
Anglican and Uniting churches. The brief
called for a chapel for worship, assembly,
music and theatre with seating for 900, and
an administration building providing
reception, offices and links to original
classroom buildings.
The two components share a foyer space
which connects the ecumenical and school
communities. Inside, it is the spatial
experience of the chapel which is most
memorable. In structure, budget and use,
the chapel is essentially a large shed, yet
the impression is one of serenity and
contemplative quiet. The auditorium
achieves a strong sense of intimacy, with a
concentric arrangement of tiered seating
reminiscent of Asplund’s Woodland Chapel
in Stockholm. The continuous bench forms
are a critical part of the aesthetic. Designed
and manufactured by the JamFactory
Workshops, with hoop pine veneer backs
and upholstered seats, they accommodate
varying audiences – from the squirming
bodies of five-year-old students to the
substantial frames of year twelves – with
equal ease and adaptability.
In contrast to the centrality of the plan,
the ceiling evokes the axiality of traditional
church spaces and generates a remarkable
degree of drama through acoustic devices.
Two side wings, like segments of folded
fans, suggest aisles. Their loci are,
tantalisingly, not toward the altar or stage;
instead they seem to be generated by points
beyond the envelope of the building – the
glimpsed views to the Adelaide range on
one side and the college’s main courtyard
on the other. The folds float, almost
awkwardly, free of the wall edge and shift
in amplitude as they gather toward the
stage, while the inverted hip of the central
section defies conventional logic and
appears to flex.
The play of light through the space has
overtones of spirituality and introspection.
The intricate creases and planes of the
ceiling are rendered luminous by clerestory
windows, while the walls read as thickened
elements punctuated by intense bands of
light. Two large windows with deeply and
asymmetrically splayed reveals give focus to
the end wall of the chapel. Scandinavian
references are obvious, from the simple
furnishings, to the rows of suspended light
fittings, to the palette of pale timbers and
off-white walls. The handling of geometries
and transitions between curvilinear and
straight planes is occasionally awkward, but
generally elegant and refined.
Externally, debts to Edmond & Corrigan’s
celebration of suburbia are evident in the
fenestration, polychromatic masonry and
robust steel detailing, an appropriate
response given the setting of contemporary
Australian vernacular. The complex is
commendable not only for its synthesis of
local architectural and European idioms,
but for its sophisticated and gentle
interpretation of a gathering place for the
secular and sacred.
Rachel Hurst is a lecturer in architecture at
the University of South Australia
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Pedare Christian College Chapel
Designers Phillips/Pilkington Architects.
Structural and Civil Engineers John Bowley
Consulting Engineer and Wallbridge &
Gilbert Consulting Engineers. Building
Services Engineers Bassett Consulting
Engineers. Hydraulics Engineer Ashley
Hallandal & Associates. Quantity Surveyor
Rider Hunt Adelaide. Landscape Consultant
Cielens + Partners. Traffic Consultant Frank
Siow & Associates. Builder Marshall &
Brougham Constructions.
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Copyright © 2010 Architecture Media Pty Ltd
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