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Located in the downtown of Ningbo, China, Ningbo International Church is 200m northwest of the City Hall. The site is also in the ecological corridor of municipal planning and construction, enjoying a superior surrounding natural environment.
In cross-cultural architectural design, due to the collision of heterogeneous cultures, various explicit and implicit problems and boundaries between buildings, cities, societies, cultures, and people emerge. The practice sorts out the issue of the "explicit and implicit boundaries" in Chinese-style Christian architecture, explores creative ideas and design techniques for the fusion of different and harmonious boundaries, ultimately achieving cultural coherence in architecture.
In terms of planning, architects abandon the centralized and upward isolation form, control the volume size by separating two blocks, and bury part of the functional space underground to control the height of the building, so that the church can be humbly integrated into the urban environment.
The open square between the east and west blocks connects the urban road to the south and the ecological corridor to the north, enabling the original divided urban environment to realize continuation. The surrounding waterfront platform, courtyard and church square are connected in series to form a landscape axis perpendicular to the building axis, providing a place for diverse activities for the citizens.
Ningbo International Church is high at the east and west ends and low in the middle. From a distance, it looks like a pair of spread wings, which is a metaphor for the Christian holy article - "eagle". We try to change the shape of the steeple pointing to the sky into the shape of the eagle flying in the sky towards people, so as to reflect the moral of "God loves people".
As for the urban interface, architects creatively design the facade as large glass curtain wall to communicate with the secular space and build trust by inspiring the act of looking at each other. The north-south straight lines divide the main hall roof into several triangular planes, and form a feather-like texture. The modern truss structure and aluminum cladding give the main hall roof a light appearance like eagle wings. The skylight allows the light of truth to pour down between the wings, conveying the teachings of God to believers.
Architects adopt a centering approach for the plane path and vertical space in the main hall. The seats of the auditorium gather from all sides towards the center point of the holy platform, the floor is constantly lowered while the roof is constantly raised, and the dynamic momentum approaching heaven reaches its climax over the holy platform. The main hall can accommodate 3,100 seats, the interior seating arrangement brings a more reasonable auditory and visual design, and a nice modern church is successfully created.
The function setting of the project is closer to the multifunctional complex standard. Thanks to this, more and more non-Christians have begun to experience religious activities, also churches and believers become more tolerant of the communal nature of church. Auxiliary functions such as classrooms, reading rooms, training rooms, offices and restaurant are arranged. The church can also be opened to the society as a place for weddings and meetings, so that the social service function of the chur
The Architectural Design & Research Institute of Zhejiang University Co., Ltd. (UAD) was established in 1953. The mission of UAD is to seek “harmonious environment, global vision, design-teaching-research integration and innovation, and the highest professionalism”. UAD adopts the development strategy of “high-grade culture, broad vision, high-efficiency management, high-caliber talents, high professional technologies and high-quality works”, with the academic theory of “Balanced Architecture” as the design guideline. During the past decades, UAD has always persisted in creating fine and innovative works, contributing a large number of outstanding works in various fields.
