11 – 2019

Reusing Empty Churches

Radical solutions are quickly found, they are inexpensive, and the possibility of failure is great. In Holland or England there are innumerable examples of church spaces that have been converted into sports halls, apartments, discotheques and indeed even into brothels. In some cases both the architectural and spiritual dignity of the spaces has been offended.

In modern Western society faith and the church have long since ceased to permeate daily life. But perhaps social daily life along with its needs could increasingly move into the church and give it a new meaning? Naturally, this editorial is not an argument for more religion in life, and certainly not for the darker sides of church hierarchies. But if one moves around other cultures and other cities, for instance in Asia, one notices how closely interwoven spirituality and everyday life are there, even today. Everywhere there is a temple, a shrine in front of which one can pause and reflect for a while … And is architecture itself not also a fairy tale realm in which one either believes or doesn’t?

All the examples presented in this issue show how the dignity of religious space can be transferred to a new entity. In the successful adaptations and conversions this was ultimately achieved by means of architecture, even if it did not play the leading role. Architecture is a way of thinking. It is a medium that knows how to mediate between material and idea, between space and people, between here and there. Without its ennobling presentational machinery many a space, if profaned, would remain just that: profane.