Pulpit Rock Church Competition
Honorable mention
Location: Preikestolen, Norway
Team: Katarzyna Golec, Paweł Pacak
Rocky, light-gray fjords covered by greenery disappear in water abyss. The sun is coming out from behind the clouds. Everything is changing. Green extents are getting luscious shade. Sunlight is reflecting on the water surface, creating sparkling forms. The strong glare is blurring horizon line. We can admire all this undisturbed and pure beauty, treading on the flat surface of a huge cliff. Two step further and everything disappears, changing into a boundless precipice. Everything around is like a performance where fjords and plants are an actors and changing weather is a director.
As a place without visual boundaries, where the nature almost is getting inside. On the other hand a place which provide, by an exterior envelope, feeling of security. Glass walls, floor and roof give the sensation of protection simultaneously letting feel the surroundings in a better way. No religious symbols to emphasize an importance of the nature.
The form of a typical gable roof Norwegian church became an inspiration to create pure, basic glass construction. The structure is placed on the edge of the cliff with a part hanging over the precipice. This exposure lets to admire the nature from each angle. The interior is almost empty except for small stone tower, a landmark which occures along the whole trail, representing the only symbol used at the church – symbol of nature.