Shizuoka, Japan

People/Products

An elderly congregation housed in an aged building, the Sunpu Church was in need of revitalization. Having been through many incarnations since it was founded in the 1890s, the Presbyterian congregation occupied a rental property in a quiet neighborhood in Shizuoka, a city of 700,000, 112 miles west of Tokyo. Hoping that a centrally placed building on church-owned land would not only save money but also attract new members, the group interviewed several designers and appointed the Tokyo architect Taira Nishizawa to the job. 

Nishizawa’s first task was to find a suitable site. Located at the intersection of a narrow, residential road and a broad thoroughfare lined with low-scale offices, shops, and apartment buildings, the prominent corner plot he recommended was a definite improvement over the church’s current home. The only catch was the commuter train line running down the middle of the commercial strip. While the church might benefit from the increased visibility among the young workers and students who ride the rails daily, the noise generated by the train cars whipping past every few minutes posed obvious problems.

But this condition did not stop the client from closing the deal or the architect from moving ahead to the project’s programming phase. In addition to the chapel with seating for the entire congregation (the Sunpu Church has roughly 100 members but only 40 weekly worshipers), the client requested an adjacent, soundproof room where parents and small children could participate in services without disturbing them. The congregation also needed a kitchen, meeting room, and other support areas, plus a study and a three-bedroom apartment for the minister.

Solution

To distinguish the chapel from the rest of the church, Nishizawa divided the project into two distinct but connected volumes. Inspired by the scale and geometry of the commercial buildings, a cube contains the sanctuary. Echoing the neighboring houses, a pitched roof block holds the minister’s apartment above and parking plus the other programmatic pieces below. While the residence has a separate door on the building’s back side, the church welcomes worshipers with a diagonal entrance at the intersection of the two streets. From there, a low, shadowy vestibule leads to the chapel: a 33-foot-square, light-filled space with a soaring, 30-foot-high ceiling.

Nishizawa achieved this dramatic result entirely with timber. “Wood is an organic material that allows you to control the transition between inside and out,” explains the architect. Practicing what he preaches, the architect encased the sanctuary in a 30-inch-thick windowless wall whose multiple layers of insulation, soundproofing, and structure delicately modulate the flow of sound, both external and internal, and light from above. “I wanted to realize a space where people could read or listen to the Bible unimpeded by artificial light or microphones,” says Nishizawa.

In contrast to the rough-hewn, vertical strips of unfinished red cedar cladding the whole building, horizontal, planed, pine louvers line the chapel’s inner face. As the wall ascends, these lateral bands become progressively thinner, the interstitial gaps wider, and the entire surface dematerializes, revealing the trusslike columns illuminated from above. The gradation from solid to void culminates at the ceiling, where evenly spaced, 0.63-inch-wide, diagonal wood bars mask 4-foot-deep roof trusses but admit muted light from seven skylights on top.

Integral to the architecture, the ever-changing play of light and shadow enlivens the sanctuary and takes the place of applied adornment or religious imagery. “Protestants concentrate on the Bible, not on icons,” explains the architect, who rendered the altar and baptismal basin as plain, wooden boxes. And function drove the clean design of the chairs — they had to be compact and stackable but include a sliding shelf for prayer books. The only suggestion of iconography is the delicate, stainless-steel cross crowning the grapevine-patterned gate at the building’s entrance.

Commentary

Located at a typical street crossing in a regional city in the heart of Japan, the Sunpu Church embodies spirituality in a place where one might not expect it. Though the clanging trains and other sounds of the city are never completely out of earshot, daylight is a constant presence that forges a symbolic bond between heaven and earth — the essence of ecclesiastical space. Both intimate and awe-inspiring, Nishizawa’s building is a remarkable balance of modesty and monumentality.


People

Client

Sunpu Church

Architect

Taira Nishizawa Architects
2-15-15-4th floor
Takanawa, Minato-ku
Tokyo, JAPAN
Tel+fax: +81(0)3.3441.4806

Personnel in architect's firm who should receive special credit:
Taira Nishizawa

Architect of Record

Taira Nishizawa

Interior Designer

Taira Nishizawa Architects

Engineer(s)

Structure: Kanebako Structure Engineering

Machine: Kankyou Engineering

Consultant(s)
Landscape:  Taira Nishizawa Architects

Lighting:  Bonnori Lighting Design

Acoustical:  Karasawa Acoustic Design

Ornament Design(Entrance Gate): Maki Kaneko

Furniture Design: Taira Nishizawa Architects

General contractor

Sugiyama Koumuten

Photographer(s)

Hiroshi Ueda
Shinkentiku-Sya

 

 

Products

Structural System:
Wooden Construction

Exterior Wall
Finish: Red Cedar T=18mm Vertical Siding

Ventilation: Strip Ceder 15×45mm @455mm

Fireproof+Sound Absorbent: Galvanized and Aluminum Coated Steel Sheet T=0.27mm

Waterproofing: Tyvek Sheet

Heat Insulator: Polystyrene Form T=50mm

Structure: Structural Plywood 12mm

Sound Absorbent: Acoustical Control Rubber T=3mm

Sound Absorbent: Plaster Board T=12.5mm

Roof
Waterproofing: Water Proof Sheet for Wooden Structure T=2mm

Roof Board: Fire Proofing Panel T=10mm

Heat Insulation: Polystyrene Form T=50mm

Structure: Structural Plywood T=24mm

Windows:
Wood: Partially Aluminum

Skylights
Glass: Polished Wire Double Glazing T=24.8mm

Batten: Aluminum Plate T=2mm

Inner Wall:
Finish: Pine Louver  T=18Mm

Structure:
Truss Beam: Douglas Fir LVL90×90m 
Brace: Doublas75×30mm

Plaster Board T=12.5Mm Fabric Finish
Void: Furring Strips Ceder 30×40mm

Sound Absorbent:Glass Wool(32kg)T=100Mm

Floor
Finish: Troweled Mortar T=20Mm, Polish+Wax

Furnishings
Japanese Beech