0152 Ilved Kirkeplads

Plaza transformation

Year: 2014-2016
Location: Jelling, DK
Size: 350m2
Status: Built

The project’s main idea is based on the idea of the unifying space that links buildings, landscape and urban furniture physically and visually in a single complex. The new church plaza provides level free access from the entrance to all buildings, at the same time establishing a new spatial hierarchy by making the church plaza more prominent and thus more important than the surrounding cemetery. By recording the given height differences in the soft curves, the so-called tortoise shell, a natural transition from outside to inside is achieving without having to establish handrails, stairways or ramps. By smoothing the terrain carefully, the church plaza visually underlines the church building. The new surface is marked by a grid of steel crosses, based on The Golden Ratio 8-5-3-2. The dominant furniture is a giant, polished boulder, replacing the church stair as the ritual centerpiece.