Hille Melbye Arkitekter and Einar Dahle Arkitekter won the architectural competition for a new church centre in Flekkerøy with the design called «New Horizon», that in 2019 was awarded the «Building Award of the Year» by the municipality of Kristiansand.
The «New Horizon» became a modern centre for congregation based on good traditions. The existing church has been preserved and included in a new church building with a new church room and a new church square. The new church building has a functional, visionary, and durable design.
The main feature of the project was a “crossroads”. The plot is characterized by wedges, pillars and robes that grow out of the vast ocean and provide a rich and exciting landscape. The new church facility is located across the columns to provide a clear and strong contact with Flekkerøy, a foundation wall. Through the church centre’s compact building body and careful location, several new landscape spaces have been created, thus enabling an extended and richer use of both church centres and landscapes.
The new church room has a basilica cut, which defines three ships. The room’s dimensioning, proportioning and division into ships will provide the desired intimacy even with fewer people present. The church room itself should be an experience, modest on the outside with inner strength and with a particularly beautiful light.
Flekkerøy Church won the Building Award of the Year 2019 in municipality of Kristiansand. Below is an extract from the jury’s judgement:
«The jury believes that ‘New Horizon’ has given Flekkerøy a new church where the old church building, the rebuilt free-standing tower and the new building separately have proportions that meet the standard in the area in an excellent way. The new building has been given a timeless design at the same time as it has been adapted to the simple architecture of the original church building. The architects are praised for the project’s design, interior details and use of materials. The use of daylight as interior quality is especially emphasized. The same applies to the large window area where you experience nature almost as part of the church room. The fact that the project has had the same building technical and acoustic consultant has contributed to an uncompromising church room where the simplicity is also reflected in the interior. »
Structural engineering during preliminary design.