church of light

The building that I choose is Church of light. Church of light,sometimes they call it as ' Church with Light'. It is the Ibraraki Kasugaoka Church's main chapel. It was built in 1989 and it is located in the city of Ibraki, Osaka Prefecture. This building is built by a famous japanese architect, Tadao Ando. The church is a small structure on the corner of two streets at Ibraraki, a residential neighborhood. It is located 25km north-northeast of Osaka in the western foothills of the Yodo valley railway corridor. The church's size is roughly 113 m² which is about the size of a small house. The church consist of three 5.9m concrete cubes penetrated by a wall angled at 15°, dividing the cube into chapel and entrance. One of the most interesting and attractive part of the church is a big cruciform is cut into the concrete wall that behind the altar. This cruciform will direct the sunlight into the interior during morning as in this facade is facing to the east where the sunrise occur. The cruciform cut into the concrete wall that extends vertically from the floor to the ceiling and horizontally from the wall to the other end of the wall. In 1999, the church was extended with the addition of a Sunday school. The Sunday school has a double height spacing that contain of a small kitchen, bench and the table which are used for congregation gatherings. It took more than two years to complete. The delay in completing the work was due to problems in raising the necessary funds. Initially it was feared that it would cost more than the budget and Ando even considered building it without a roof, but the construction firm donated the roof and this became unnecessary.

The church is rested on a green landscape. The church is surrounded by green vegetation. For the exterior construction of the church, the material used is concrete with its original color. I feel that the church is fix and rest in the green landscape harmoniously. This is because Ando uses the most original state of the material without any painting. I feel like the building is not purposely build in the site but it is like blend with the surrounding. From the sight, it please our eyes. We can see that the church with the gray color is actually match with the color of green. Besides, we can also smell the natural environment that gives us the fresh smell. The smell is pure and new when the church is standing on the green site. The natural environment enable us to hear the silent and aesthetic of the nature. In the natural environment, we can just hear the sound of wind, the sound of bird. And it is not polluted by the noise of traffic, the noise when the construction of building. This kind of silent let us feel that the church is rest individually on a peaceful place. This gives the sense of safety and protection. I feel like I will feel very comfortable and harmony when I am in the site and it gives the feel of staying away from the stressful city life. The reasons I say it is away from the city is because the building is located at the two street with the green surrounding. The trees seem like dividing the city and natural surrounding.

Now I would like to talk about the exterior of the church. From the sight, you can see that the concrete wall of the church is solid, massive and permanent. From that you can see the stability of the church. You can feel that the church is safely and strongly anchor to the site. You can feel like the place is actually protecting something important inside. The strong wall is not easily collapse and is able to protect everything when there is problems or disaster happen. Furthermore, you can see that the whole building has no openings. It reflects that the building is actually massive and it is alone and cold. From the outside, you cannot see the interior of the church. It emphasize the importance of the interior. You can feel like the interior is sacred and it is private,which mean that it is not for stranger just simply look into it. For the touch, u can feel that the wall is actually smooth. The smooth surface enable us to feel like the church is actually pure and clean. It is not polluted by anything. It symbolize that the violence of human being will never pollute the sacred of the goddess. This can also enable the human to know their mistake and correct themselves in the church. From the exterior, you can also see a big cruciform opening at the facade that facing east. There is the only opening that enable us to look into the church. However, the opening is thin and we cannot see the church totally. Generally, the church is well protected from the exterior. Although the church is just a size of a small house, but u can feel like the church is actually big. The reason is the thick and massive wall. This kind of feeling will cause people to have a grand and respectful feeling. The color of gray is dull. This reflect the coldness of human being. Human being is cruel. They do a lot of things which brings many bad impact to the environment. For example, due to the industrialization, human being actually clear off the habitat of animal which is the forest. It not only destroy the green environment and it also destroy the home for the animal. It will kill the animal and cause them to extinct. Besides that, human is cruel because they like to have war. Therefore, the god is here to correct the cruel characteristic of human and there is a place for them to teach the human being is church by the priest. Moreover, the building have a rectangular form. The communal church consists of two rectangular volumes that are both cut at 15 degree angles by free standing walls. One indirectly enter the church by slipping between the two volumes, one that contains the Sunday school and the other that contains the worship hall.

Lastly, I will like to talk about the interior part of the building and this is the most interesting part of the building. The space of the chapel is defined by light, by the strong contrast between light and shade. This effect is done perfectly by the cruciform opening which situated behind the altar. It directs the sunlight into the interior in the morning because of the east facing. From this cruciform shape an abstract and universal light seems to be floating on the concrete wall, its rays extending and receding over time with the movement of sun. this mean that the light that are directed into the interior will extend longer and longer ass the time pass. When there is evening, the light will getting weaker. The cruciform is actually the spirit of the whole church. The walls are made up of gray concrete material, and the space inside is big and empty. The wall s are solid and there are no openings at all. So the space inside is actually dark. It gives the feeling of coldness and fear. This reflects the violence and cruel of the human. It is totally the darkness of human being. It shows no hope and disappointment of human being. However the existence of the cruciform opening of the church has changed everything. It seems like it is the light against the dark surfaces and the voids create architecture. Here it is how important the light effect makes the building as it is a scared place. In the chapel light enters from behind the altar, from a cruciform cut in the concrete wall that extends vertically from floor to ceiling and horizontally from wall to wall, aligning perfectly with the joints in the concrete. This defines a hope is given by the god to the helpless human being. The light is like a hope and power given by the god to save the cruel human being. As the light coming from the exterior and light up the whole interior, people may feel no fear because they will like have a direction. The light seem like leading them to the right direction without lost. Besides that, the color of the wall give the feeling of coldness. You can feel the interior is cold and alone. But the sunlight enter the interior somehow bring some heat. This enable us to feel the warm of the god power while we are living in the cold and cruel world. Light is also permitted to seep into the interior from the slicing of the volume by the freestanding concrete wall. The darkness of the chapel is further accentuated by the dark and rough-textured wood of the floor planks and the pews which are built out of reused wood used during construction as scaffolding. In contrast to the darkness of the chapel the interior of the Sunday school is built of lighter colored wood with a smooth surface. The volume containing the Sunday school also has light that penetrates the space through the slicing of the volume by the freestanding concrete wall. The space comes alive not only with ever changing light but also through the voices of children singing, sounds of the piano, adults enjoying a meal of soba noodles after Sunday worship and laughter.



References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Light
http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/churchoflight/index.htm

KELLIE'S CASTLE

Kellie's castle is located at batu gajah. It is built using brick masonry. The construction is incomplete. The architect is William Kellie Smith from Scotland. He built the castle is for his wife as a gift. All the construction materials like bricks and tiles are imported from India. The only access id from the main road through a bridge. There is a elevator in the castle. This is the first elevator in Malaysia. There are two tunnels in the castle, one of the tunnel links to the Hindu temple. On second floor, Kellie plans to have a indoor tennis court. On the highest floor, there is a rooftop courtyard for parties. Besides that, there is a underground basement for the storing of wine. Unfortunately the castle is not completed because of the dead of Kellie.

There are some parts of the castle that i feel is interesting.


The first interesting part that i feel it is interesting is the openings of the castle. It is not the common doors that we can found in our house. It is actually a squarish frame door with a circle openings on top of the door. It is not only for aesthetic purpose,but it is also for better ventilation purpose.


the second interesting parts of the castle is the interior arch. It is not the common arch which is semicircular in shapes, but it is lower. The advantage is it will save the space but it will also give the same support as the semicircular arch.


This is the small openings that located at the first floor. I believed that this openings is for the cross ventilation. Moreover,it also direct the natural lighting into the interior. This small openings blocks direct sunlight and it does not increase the temperature of the interior space.


This opening which is located at the staircase is also interesting. It is a picture window. This window gives a nice view from the interior. From the window, you can see the nice green scenery. Furthermore, it will direct sunlight to the staircase too.


This is the rooftop courtyard on the top floor. It provides a large space for the activities. It can provides a whole views to the exterior.


This is the sketch by me. It is actually incomplete. At the left side of the castle,it is actually built until the second floor. Then in my sketch, i show that it is actually completed with third and fourth floor.

At last, i will like to tell u what i feel toward this castle. From outside,i feel that this castle gives me the grand feeling. But once i stepped in to the castle, it has only small spaces. The whole building is solid and strong. It gives the lonely feeling. I feels like the building is cold and lonely. It is like stands at itself on a forest landscape. It seems mix with the natural surrounding. The wall with exposed brick masonry gives us the feeling of natural. The brown wall is mixing harmony with the surrounding. Although there are less openings, but they able to direct sunlight from the exterior within the building. As the conclusion, i feel like the building has a strong and grand exterior but inside is lonely and cold. This may be is the expression of William Kellie,he looks like a great man but he is lonely hearted.