Maxim Velcovsky & Jakub Berdych's St. Bartholomew’s Church

I think traditional pews would better compliment the architecture.

I love MCM furniture and I love Jesus but I'm not so sure I love Panton chairs with a cross cut into them.

Awesome juxtaposition!

funny, it's the four Eames that don't work for me - LOVE the pew replacements
THX for posting this!

Is that St. Bartholomew's in Pardubice?

A Catholic church with no kneelers is not a triumph of form-follows-function, unless you're going with a liturgy variant that annoys the Pope by entirely omitting kneeling.

This kinda freaks me out. ; )

while this is really funny, i don't think the architecture is taking center stage here. the panton chair, in all it's simplicity isn't all that good at taking a back seat for attention in my experience.

Churches are one place where I really dislike modernism; this is horrid.

i think it's quite beautiful, but just don't know if i'd want to worship there... then again, i don't worship anywhere.

This looks ridiculous. The chairs steal all the attention away from the architecture because they're so out of place.

i have visions of sweet little old ladies flipping over in these chairs. eek.

It's the fact that the chairs are so modern that make the existing architecture stand out. Like Renzo's Morgan Library, it makes you see something that was already there in a whole new light.

I think the red cushions on those chairs kind of really, truly crack me up, because I can just see the board meeting minutes in my mind about why they needed the cushions, why they needed the cross-shaped piercings, etc.

Wende, I can't be sure, but perhaps the pillows are for kneeling?

I love it!

I wish more people could be open minded about the idea of mixing religion with modernism/old with new/etc...

I am all about appreciating and respecting the past, but I don't live in the past.

so fantastic!

Maaaaayyyybeeee... and then if there's a flyer with the day's music (as there usually is, if there's no hymnal), you have it in one hand to shove back on the seat, while you put the pillow on the floor to kneel... Then if you're not going to kick the pillow under someone's chair when you stand intermittently... find a hand to exchange a sign of peace, I dare you. You'd have a juggling act, as there's often no "stand" between "sit" and "kneel."

There are sound functional reasons why churches have pews. (1) You can often squeeze in more people. (2) Fat people fit; thin people fit; baby carriers fit. (3) Built-in kneelers and built-in place to store the hymnals, circulars, pocket lectionaries, or whatever documentation is used to encourage participation in the mass. (4) Pews are very stable if you need a brace in hauling yourself up from a kneeling position due to age, infirmity, sprains, or general crankiness.

This one just strikes me as a Statement for which the parishioners will ultimately curse the design committee.

robyn, that's what i thought,you know god is in the details, the designers and artists involved in church construction believed that all their work celebrated the glory of god, so why not a panton chair. i think you can pray just as well on crate or saarinen womb chair. i'm not preaching i'm just saying.
also the panton chairs stack and can be moved easily just like the folding wooden chairs that are used in many european churches.

Whatever gets the butts into the pews/Pantons.

Also reminds me of a British Changing Rooms where Lawrenece Llewlyn Bowen redid a church. It actually worked.

And I have no qualms whatsover about a modern aesthetic, or a high-design statement, in a church (or mosque or synagogue). When the churches and cathedrals we all ooh and ah over now were new, don't you think they were high design for their time?

Funny, but I never thought of the cross as a "logo" before...

Ditto, P(too).

I love it. I think the juxtaposition of the modern and ancient actually enhances both. Granted, I've only been to churches/temples/etc for weddings, so I can't attest to the practicality, but I think the overall effect is beautiful.

I just added a new link in the text.

I think it's wonderful.

I love the juxtaposition of (con)temporary/modern furnishings- representing the congregation next to the timeless and unmovable stone- representing the eternal.

Great Posting!

Well, I certainly find it to be beautiful. Practicality is possible, but I'm not sure if it is there or not. I love the exposed walls, the purity of the white chairs and the juxtaposition of the many Persian carpets on the floor. What a stunning way to visually honor the past with the fragments of old artwork on the ceiling, while projecting faith into the present day and future with the industrial, unfinished surfaces and sleek, modern seating. It is conceptually pleasing to me and I would be able to happily worship here.... I think.

Only trouble is... from certain angles, I am reminded of the Heaven's Gate cult and it sort of ruins it for me.... something about the futuristic spaceshipesque furniture with the cut outs (in this context) is just almost creepy.

I wonder how it would strike me in real life. I think it could easily go either way.

This creeps me the hell out and does not work for me at all. I acknowledge that some people have found that the juxtaposition between the two styles part of why the decor works for them. The photo from the nave towards the altar, with all those chairs marching towards the front, looks 60s mod in such a bad way (there are good ways for 60s mod to look. This is not one of them) and, I agree with RedShoes, looks cultish. I also agree with Wende's comments about the need for kneelers and something stable to lean on when getting up from a kneeling position. I bet you dollars to doughnuts a large part of the average congregation can't stand up from a kneeling position without grabbing onto something.

My biggest complaint, though, is the crosses stamped/cut into the backs of the chairs. Combined with the very pop art shape of the chair, they seem branded there and therefore commodified (I think that's the word I want). I also dislike the chairs because they are separate, individual things, and I'm so used to seeing people squished together into pews when they go to church. It just feels so...cold.

Ugh. No no no no no. Like it if you will, but for some reason I'm having such a distinct, visceral reaction against the whole thing. Yeep.

The church is beautiful. The chairs are beautiful. But I agree they seem at odds with each other. I absolutely love the frozen nature of the church's crumbled paint walls. It's gorgeous.

Actually, the chandeliers bother me waaaaaaaay more than the chairs.

Mlle Kate--
Do carved wood crosses at the end of old pews bother you? If not, why not?

i think it's in chodovice, which is near Hradec Kralove in NE Czech Republic.

by the way, for a country with such a rich design heritage, today qubus who did this design really stands out in prague. if anyone goes there and is looking for modern design, it's worth a visit to their very small shop front.

It's beautiful, serene, and meditative. Love the crosses cut into the backs of the chairs; love the red cushions. Given Europeans' general lack of interest in all things related to the Catholic Church, it's unlikely that any more than a handful of people attend Mass, so I don't see a problem. It's true, Wende, that the liturgy requires rising and kneeling but I don't think these chairs inhibit that.

I think the Eames chairs are fine and much better than the throne-like chairs that were once de rigeur pre-Vatican II; these have a more democratic and egalitarian look.

Just a note: Roman Catholics are namby pamby compared to their Eastern Orthodox brothers and sister. They stand throughout a liturgy that is several hours long: no seats, no kneelers.

cultish? i guess because it's an unconventional use of these chairs, i don't see it that way. i think the chairs are not practical for leaners, the aged, or infirm, but there are less than 100 chairs here. my guess, this is for a religous order, some of them are more open to progressive ideas in church design.

Is it me, or does anybody else see the giant rolodex card shape on the wall in the first shot?

Absolutely beautiful - like a parade of stiffly starched nun's wimples - I LOVE it!

Man, that is COOL!

As a Catholic, albeit severely lapsed, I do appreciate a comfy place to sit. Wooden pews hurt after an hour, even though you do stand up a lot.

Presumably you could kneel. There's a rug. And pillows.

15 point word score for "wimple"!!!! Excellent!!
:)

P2: No on the crosses in carved into the pews (i.e. they don't bother me. Long-lapsed RC, here). I think they bother me more in this instance because the Panton chairs are so blatantly mass-manufactured. Not that modern pews aren't--but I imagine it's possible to create a volume of Panton chairs on a much greater scale than a set of large wooden pews.

I'm not sure exactly what the issue is for me, but it's setting some little alarm bell dinging in the back of my head and I think I need to ponder more before I figure out. Like I said, my reaction is almost entirely visceral. Maybe it's because everything is so neat and tidy and ordered in the way it's set up with no deviation in the form. It reminds me of 2010: A Space Odyssey in a weird way.

Devyn, I also see the giant Rolodex shape. What would be more significant is if it had Jesus' address on it.

It's the Rolodex of Turin!!! :)

Not sure why the volume or means of production is cause for alarm. Perhaps I think we all see churches (sadly) as pieces of history, trapped in the amber of time.

I like churches that look cool.
I like churches that make you feel underdressed, and not just on Easter.
I like churches that address the now, and try to adapt to a changed congregation.
I like churches that make people talk about churches.
I like churches that look gay-wedding fabulous if that day ever comes!!

Gothic architecture literally sprang from the mortal desire to capture (or reach) heaven with stone. Why can't we still try, knowing that the definition of heaven is wildly and widely defined?

But I think if Jesus were around today, he'd not be a carpenter. He'd be in plastics. :)

(Calm down, Karim, I am SOOOO not talking about you!!) :)