Scope of work
Refurbishment and modernisation of the church building in accordance with the requirements of the monument protection office – design to project supervision
Realisation
September 2021 – November 2023
Principal
New Apostolic Church Northern and Eastern Germany
The New Apostolic Church in Hamburg-Eppendorf – built in 1955/56 according to a design by architect Theo Hirte – impresses with its 1950s architecture. With its light-colored clinker bricks and the implied flying roof, the building is typical of the modern architecture of its time. The asymmetrical church interior fascinates with its expressive longitudinal façades that taper towards the chancel and the gallery that sweeps far into the room. The staircase in the vestibule also inspires with its elegant lines.
With its original seating capacity of over 1,000, the new church was intended to provide sufficient space for the steadily growing congregation founded in 1922 as well as to enable the return of the branch congregations. In the following decades, there were repeated innovations, with the last comprehensive modernization taking place at the beginning of the 1970s. Since the installation of the Hüfken organ, which was inaugurated in 2002, the church hall with its good acoustics has been a much-used space for concerts, and not just by the church.
After 65 years of use, the building was once again adapted to contemporary parish use as part of a comprehensive renovation and modernisation – in close consultation with the responsible monument protection office. Necessary installations were sensitively integrated into the existing interior architecture and room configuration. The new family rooms on the ground floor are particularly noteworthy.
At the same time, certain areas were upgraded, functionality was improved, and fire safety requirements were met. After refurbishment and cleaning, the church windows now show their former brilliance. However, the complex church interior unfolds its special effect through the modified flooring and the new lighting concept.
The entire surface of the parish hall and gallery was covered with a gray needled carpet. There was no accentuation of the access axes and the various functional areas – with the exception of the altar platform. The materiality of the altar platform is now visually continued in the circulation areas. A large-format porcelain stoneware tile was chosen for this purpose, the color of which mediates between the limestone of the chancel and the new rubber flooring in the foyer. This in turn relates to the limestone of the staircase in the foyer and emphasizes the main entrance, making orientation easier. Above all, walking through the church becomes more solemn.
The new lighting design replaces the lighting of the church interior, which mainly consisted of grouped opaque spherical luminaires, with geometrically arranged, directional cylindrical lights. The concrete pillars of the longitudinal façades are again emphasized vertically by up-down spotlights, as in the 1950s, but discreet, contemporary and without dazzling. Additional indirect luminaires on the rear wall of the hall complement the lighting. Lighting that allows the architecture of the church, i.e. its elements but also its overall spatial effect, to unfold, with or without daylight.