Light of Life Church

The "Light of Life" Chapel can be found at the end of the SeolGok Road on the south side of the Bori mountain, in Gapyong at 30 km from Seoul, South Korea.

This building is built in the middle of a village project for retired missionaries initiated by the Protestant and Presbyterian community Nam Seoul Grace Church.
Thus, beyond the reception of Sunday services, it’s a place of contemplation and prayer open every day of the week.
In addition, the center can host a hundred people in religious retreat with the availability of rooms and the offer of meals in a restaurant and cafe.

The project began in 2008 with the donation to the church Pastor Hong Jung-Gil of a large quantity of Siberian red cedar wood by an entrepreneur working between Korea and Russia.

In order to reduce as much as possible the impact of a building on this very mountainous and forested site, the project tries to melt into the landscape. The ground floor area of 1500m2 has been established on the flattest part of the plot, on pilotis and facing South, thus taking advantage of the orientation for a more open view of the site.

Similarly, using mainly for external coating reflective and transparent materials such as glass and polycarbonate, the building seeks to echo the image of nature and reduce the opacity of the built mass.
On the other hand, the main interior space, the chapel, reveals an "internal mass" quite different, unimaginable from the outside, a world apart, its "own universe". (Henri Focillon, The Life of Forms, p33)

Floor areas: 4,109.61
Studies: 2009.2-2014.5
Construction: 2011.4-2014.6

Main materials:
Polycarbonate: Danpalon Korea, archipoly, everlite
Wood: Siberian red cedar + canadian douglas

Engineering consulting (Structure) : Bollinger & Grohmann, AIST
Engineering consulting (Fluides, électricité, thermique) : G.I. Engineering
Cost management consulting: HanMi Global
Construction firms : ELAND construction, Kdome
Construction supervision: shinslab, MOON Bo-Yeon

Light of Life Church by Shin Tchely in Korea, South won the WA Award Cycle 21. Please find below the WA Award poster for this project.