Oslo-based architecture practice Snøhetta wins competition for the new Ulstein church in Ulsteinvik, Norway. Proposing 'Excelsior' in the competition, Snøhetta intends to create a customized and sustainable church for Ulsteinvik that is both a worthy and a functional frame for the church’s activities. The new church will be built next to the existing church, and the two buildings make up a new whole, both functionally and symbolically. The building sits on 1.900m2 gross floor area.

The competition announced in fall 2015 and 38 participants submitted their projects for the competition, but four of them were selected to participate. The existing Ulstein Church, built in the 1800s, is today lacking capacity and flexibility. There is therefore a need for a new church building, which will be placed together with the existing building. The new church will, in interaction with the existing one, house a great diversity of activities and also facilitate several activities simultaneously.

The art strategy in the project supports the concept of the architecture, and suggests a decoration with a cross in the church room and the chapel. 

The new church’s location makes good use of the part of the area that has not previously been used as a cemetery. The church room and associated functions are located on the ground floor, with the entrance facing the existing church. With a separate entrance from the west, the administrative functions are placed on the first floor. On the third floor one can find the chapel, which is entered through a plaza under a big tree. The main volume will primarily be built in massive wood, supplemented by a supporting structure in glulam.

Snøhetta explains the concept for 'Excelsior' with three simple words: the Rock, the Tree, and the Space. The rock is the fundament on which the new church is built. It represents eternity, the solid, the past and the altar as a meeting with God. The new wooden church building is established as a new landscape. The wood represents growth, creation, future and sustainability. The layered shape rises up like atree towards a skylight over the church space, referring to tree rings and rings in water. 

The space is created as a cavity in the wood. It represents the present, life, and the pilgrimage. In the church room one can find both the horizontal axis in the community and pilgrimage, and the vertical axis in the connection between heaven and earth through the skylight.

Project Facts

Categories: Architecture, Landscape, Interior, Culture, Keyless Structures, Public Space
Timeline: 2015 - 2016
Status: Ongoing
Location: Ulsteinvik, Norway
Typology: Church
Size: 1.900m2 gfa
Client: Ulstein sokn, Church of Norway

All images © Snøhetta

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