Standing at the hustling junction of Queen’s Road East and Kennedy Road, the site area of Wesleyan House is only 800m2 but it needs to hold facilities with size of 11,000m2, including the Main Sanctuary, the halls and activity rooms, the Sky Chapel, offices, social service floors and residence for pastoral workers.
The building inevitably needs to go ‘up’. For the vertical arrangement of the spaces, the Sanctuary and halls are at the lower floors, with an open area at the ground floor for the congregation to gather and disperse, while creating space for church members to meet. The halls that hold smaller sizes of service are at upper floors, culminating with the Sky Chapel at the top enjoys spectacular north harbour view and green hills to its south. Other floors are so arranged to reflect their functional relationship as well as the required adjacencies to suit their functions.
Although a typical city locale, we aimed to have Wesleyan House stand out from adjacent conventional high-rise buildings with a tower sitting on podium. The contour of the building defines its skyline by slanting gently from the base to the top, generates curving exterior, manifesting notion of embracing and flowing in spatial planning with interplay of exterior and interior. Creating a refreshing spiritual oasis for the Wanchai community.
To create a peaceful and solemn worship place, natural daylight for the Sanctuary is focused on the altar with a backdrop of a 8m tall wall in pure solid white, punctuated along by a glazed cross-shaped opening. The lightscope above the ceiling softens and diffuses the sunlight onto the altar.
Projecting a sense of frugality and simplicity, the building avoids the use of curtain wall, individual casement windows are arranged like masonry pattern, inspired by the stone wall of the existing building.
Standing at the hustling junction of Queen’s Road East and Kennedy Road, the site area of Wesleyan House is only 800m2 but it needs to hold facilities with size of 11,000m2, including the Main Sanctuary, the halls and activity rooms, the Sky Chapel, offices, social service floors and residence for pastoral workers.
The building inevitably needs to go ‘up’. For the vertical arrangement of the spaces, the Sanctuary and halls are at the lower floors, with an open area at the ground floor for the congregation to gather and disperse, while creating space for church members to meet. The halls that hold smaller sizes of service are at upper floors, culminating with the Sky Chapel at the top enjoys spectacular north harbour view and green hills to its south. Other floors are so arranged to reflect their functional relationship as well as the required adjacencies to suit their functions.
Although a typical city locale, we aimed to have Wesleyan House stand out from adjacent conventional high-rise buildings with a tower sitting on podium. The contour of the building defines its skyline by slanting gently from the base to the top, generates curving exterior, manifesting notion of embracing and flowing in spatial planning with interplay of exterior and interior. Creating a refreshing spiritual oasis for the Wanchai community.
To create a peaceful and solemn worship place, natural daylight for the Sanctuary is focused on the altar with a backdrop of a 8m tall wall in pure solid white, punctuated along by a glazed cross-shaped opening. The lightscope above the ceiling softens and diffuses the sunlight onto the altar.
Projecting a sense of frugality and simplicity, the building avoids the use of curtain wall, individual casement windows are arranged like masonry pattern, inspired by the stone wall of the existing building.
Standing at the hustling junction of Queen’s Road East and Kennedy Road, the site area of Wesleyan House is only 800m2 but it needs to hold facilities with size of 11,000m2, including the Main Sanctuary, the halls and activity rooms, the Sky Chapel, offices, social service floors and residence for pastoral workers.
The building inevitably needs to go ‘up’. For the vertical arrangement of the spaces, the Sanctuary and halls are at the lower floors, with an open area at the ground floor for the congregation to gather and disperse, while creating space for church members to meet. The halls that hold smaller sizes of service are at upper floors, culminating with the Sky Chapel at the top enjoys spectacular north harbour view and green hills to its south. Other floors are so arranged to reflect their functional relationship as well as the required adjacencies to suit their functions.
Although a typical city locale, we aimed to have Wesleyan House stand out from adjacent conventional high-rise buildings with a tower sitting on podium. The contour of the building defines its skyline by slanting gently from the base to the top, generates curving exterior, manifesting notion of embracing and flowing in spatial planning with interplay of exterior and interior. Creating a refreshing spiritual oasis for the Wanchai community.
To create a peaceful and solemn worship place, natural daylight for the Sanctuary is focused on the altar with a backdrop of a 8m tall wall in pure solid white, punctuated along by a glazed cross-shaped opening. The lightscope above the ceiling softens and diffuses the sunlight onto the altar.
Projecting a sense of frugality and simplicity, the building avoids the use of curtain wall, individual casement windows are arranged like masonry pattern, inspired by the stone wall of the existing building.