Knarvik Church, Lindås Building, Norwegian Project, Photo, Design, Image

Knarvik Church Norway

Lindås Architecture design by Reiulf Ramstad Architects, Norway

27 Oct 2016 + 29 Jun 2010

Knarvik Church

Design: Reiulf Ramstad Architects – RRA

Location: Knarvik, Lindås, Norway

Knarvik Community Church – New community church with cultural and administration facilities

The new Community Church in Knarvik, located on the scenic west-coast of Norway north of Bergen, is built on a privileged site overlooking the cultural landscape and local town centre. The building is carefully adapted to an existing hillside between built and natural environment, providing the church with an inspiring context o the surrounding heath landscape. Its distinctive and innovative character and central location makes it a landmark in the community, to be inviting and inclusive for all people to cultivate their faith throughout the week.

The church signals its function with a sacral dignity and recognisable form, where the church spire, sanctuary and chapel are emphasised by ascending roof planes. Inspired by the local tradition of Norwegian staves churches, the building utilizes clear and elemental geometries, materials and constructions.

The compact building volume is split into two stories on a rectangular plan, separating the sacred spaces above from the cultural and administrative functions below. An internal “church square” connects the two levels with an atrium stair into a continuous space, and may be joined or separated from the sanctuary with sliding glass walls to accommodate more than 500 people.

Wood is the key material of the project, expressed in the homogeneous cladding of pre-weathered pine heartwood and mirrored by the light-coloured pine finish on all interior surfaces.

The building permits daylight into its volume through lancet-reminiscent tall and narrow windows, splayed in plan to maximise admittance and reduce glare. At night, the warm glow of the interior reveals the activities of its religious and cultural events.

The church aspires to provide a platform for a safe upbringing for children and youth, to become a local venue for gatherings and faith, and to facilitate art, music and cultural development. The Community Church Knarvik has an architectural expression, spatial solutions and materiality which unites religion, culture and the sitespecific context into a whole.

Knarvik Church Lindås – Building Information

Type: Culture
Location: Knarvik, Hordaland, Norway
Program: New community church with cultural and
administration facilities
Client: Lindås Kyrkjelege Fellesråd
Size: 2,250 m2 building, 15,000 m2 total planning area
Value: 80 mio NOK
Commission type: Invited competition (2010), 1st prize
Status: completed 2014

Photos: Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter, Hundven Clements Photography

About Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter
Reiulf Ramstad Architects (RRA) is an independent Oslo-based architectural firm with a high level of expert knowledge and a distinct ideology. The firm has a strong conceptual approach combined with experience from past accomplished projects. RRA has a permanent staff consisting of 13 graduate architects, one managing director, 2 administrative staff, and 2-4 permanent openings for architectural students.

Knarvik church pictures : RRA

Knarvik Church Building in Lindås

The Church of Knarvik holds an important position as a cultural provider and a communicator for the Christian message and community, on holidays and during every day. The church will be central for a safe childhood environment and at the same time be a platform for cultural development, arts and music in the community.

The church is friendly placed in the terrain and has dimensions that respect and blend harmoniously into the landscape’s vegetation, topography and that stress the space qualities. The church and its outdoors are developed to the place and the soon to come central square in Knarvik. The church of Knarvik will become a local venue for visitation and faith through the whole week. The project shall appear invitingly and including for all people.

The church of Knarvik will be an inspiring and a worthy place for gatherings that shows great respect for the Christian faith, people, climate and the environment.

Knarvik church – Building Information

Community church, Knarvik
Location: Knarvik, Lindås, Norway
Program: New Community Church with cultural facilities and administration
Client: Lindås Kyrkjelege Fellesråd; Lindås Church Council
Size: 2250m2
Commission type: 1st prize, Invited competition (2010)
Status: Competition proposal
Year: 2010

Over the years RRA has produced a wide range of innovative and ground breaking projects with an exceptional variation of scale and program. They have earned a reputation for creating bold, simple architecture with a strong connection to the Scandinavian context and the impressive Scandinavian landscape in particular. Common for all their projects are that they are driven by a genuine dedication to humanist values. RRA build in both, urban and rural areas, all over Norway and recently their projects are increasingly gaining attention also outside of Norway.

Knarvik church images / information from Reiulf Ramstad Architects

Reiulf Ramstad Architects

Location: Knarvik Church Norway, Knarvik, Lindås, Norway, northern Europe