Our Savior Parish Center
Our Savior's Lutheran Parish Center located on Capitol Hill in Denver
was designed in 1961. The original project concept was to construct a
complex of interconnected buildings integrating chapels, worship areas,
classrooms
, apartments, and choir rooms. But like the St. Stephen's project,
only the primary structure was completed. Here is CAH's original
description of the complete concept:
- This is an inner city church that decided to stay in the inner city
and not move out to the suburbs. It is an old church of over 800 souls,
and is located in an area that is being rapidly surrounded by high rise
apartments. An overall scheme of development is planned to relate to
the new landscape and the people located there.
- Addition to old church is a stark contrast to the existing building
as this reflects the contemporary spirit of the people of the church,
and also since the old church is to be replaced in the future by the entire
composition designed which includes a twelve story apartment for
senior citizens topped by the new pent-house church which commands
sweeping views over the city and of the easter slope of the Rocky mountains.
- Informality expressed by sunken garden court, outer chapel,
fireplace area, entry porches.
- Angularity
shortens corridors, and adds interest to an extremely
limited (space wise) site.
- Composition one of the contrasts between flat roofed "floating"
classrooms and offices between solid masses,
capped with crowns
, that
contain assembly and
chapel areas.
- The attempt here to to make the church fill a local sociological need as informally and easily as possible, while still serving as a spiritual symbol in the community.
Reason for Pent House Church
- Impressive view of mountains to west, Pikes Peak to Long's Peak.
- Isolation from street noises.
- Maximum utilization of land area.
- Elderly people don't have to go outside to participate in worship -
no stairs to manage.
- Elevators common experience in urban life.
Reason for Community Court
- An informal park-like area to serve as congregating are for:
- members on Sunday to meet (both commuter and local)
- neighborhood people to "drop in" during week - court reached by
direct access to street.
- outdoor devotion in open chapel - one not need not enter building.
- outdoor functions during hot or inclement weather -
much of court covered by building.
- outdoor dinners and barbecue.
- musical games, other outside activities for youth - off social hall
- Sunken aspect of court gives degree of aloneness without fencing.
Reason for Equilateral Triangle Plan Use
- Narrow proportion of site cried for something to relieve a foreboding character of long corridors.
- To shorten hallway travel pattern connecting all units of complex diagonal serves best.
- Paired, makes diamond, and hence very useful space (see classroom layouts).
- In classrooms, folding partitions can be pulled either way to give added flexibility.
- Sloped sides of stair tower (tall bldg.) allows end balconies on east to get glimpse of mountains to either northwest or southwest.
- Creates sharp angles at exterior masonry masses which give an added illusion of height in all worship unit.
- Trinitarian theology.
How design is given significance
- Chapels and worship assembly areas - worshipers are oriented for
"family" experience; center focused seating in church underlines this
relationship of Christians and involves the normally anonymous urbanized
person.
- Worship areas accentuated by:
- folded roofs - upward space
accentuated by horizontal cross beams with upward folds.
- heavy masonry masses (walls), acting as anchors in
composition for floating open rooms between.
- sharp angled corners
increasing feeling of height.
CAH's description of the primary building upon completion:
- An addition to an old church, but expressing present day form, the parish
center is a building unit intended to provide the necessary social,
education, and office space that the original church/basement arrangement
could not provide. It is an inner-city church requiring Type 1
construction (fireproof), and also having heavy demands upon its
limited and costly ground area.
- To create an informal atmosphere and encourage friendly involvement among
the parishioners who come from many outlying areas, porches, verandas,
patios, etc. were included.
- To the urban environment the building is a positive expression of the
striving of the church to be relevant to the present.
CAH's description of the design features:
- Angular design provides interest on long narrow site adjacent to the existing church.
- Edged "crowns" covering solid worship areas of Sunday school punctuate the offices and classrooms which slip in between. Under classrooms in garden level social area looking out on covered patio and worship chapel.
- Large steel fins
with vinyl inserts accentuate angularity, provide sun shade, refined finished detail and have the effect of creating privacy on the raise large front porch.
- Steel allows design effect in
stair pans
compatible with the building design.
During construction of Our Savior Parish CAH filmed many interesting sequences.
A video copy of a film, by Joel Haertling, incorporating this footage
is available in VHS format.
The tape also includes documentation of other CAH designs.
A book of Charles A. Haertling's designs is also available.
Contact Joel Haertling
to order the video or book.
This page was last revised on Feb 3, 1996.
