North Christian Church – Eero Saarinen

Photographic image © Matthew Carbone

Photographic image© Hassan Bagheri

Site Plan

Ground floor plan

Section

Sketch by the architect

 

Church, as a place existing for thousands of years, has lots of different appearances in modern time. But can you imagine a church in hexagon shape with a needle-like tower pointing to the sky? As Eero Saarinen’s last piece of architecture, North Christian Church could also be seen as a piece of work with his kind of divinity constructed inside. It does not look like a church, but a monument, a mysterious “monstrous” structure as simple as a church could be. A church without windows. Only a small skylight is installed to bring about light to the communion table in the center of the hall, in which the congregation sit around the communion table in real equality, unity and harmony – another way of rethinking the power that belief gives to us.

 

Treib, Marc. “The Nature of Space”In Dan Kiley Landscapes: The Poetry of Space, ed. Reuben M. Rainey and Marc Treib (Richmond, CA: William Stout Publishers, 2009), 62-63.

Langdon, David. “AD Classics: North Christian Church / Eero Saarinen”. Archdaily.com Retrieved from http://www.archdaily.com/544843/ad-classics-north-christian-church-eero-saarinen (Accessed 10 October  2017).

“North Christian Church Homepage”. Retrieved from http://www.northchristianchurch.com/ (Accessed 10 October  2017).