Allegedly, the Frankfurt architectural studio that designed the roadside chapel on the Wilnsdorf motorway in North Rhine-Westphalia, which is directly adjacent to the busy motorway, a hotel, a petrol station and a fast food restaurant, wanted to symbolize the motorway and its road sign system. take a seat.
What is more surprising about the work of the Schneider + Schumacher architectural office, which has been awarded numerous awards, is that it was not located in a quieter environment or on the main square of a small town, but that the silhouette of Batman's head jumps out from what you see at the first, second and many times you look at it. instead of a church.
“Despite the fact that the external form has become abstract, it is still immediately and directly understandable that this is a church. The goal of the interior was to be surprising, as a contrast to the expectations judged from the outside. The outside is abstract, and the inside is warm, friendly, magical and holy, which makes you feel like you are in another world, says one of the designers, Michael Schumacher, about the chapel, which has a really unusual shape, with white cladding on the outside and laminated wood on the inside. Regarding the design process, he also revealed that they were heavily influenced by abstract forms such as the Japanese art of origami, and yes, the pointed ears of the well-known comic book character Batman.
The designers of the church named Siegerland Motorway Church envisioned a long, sloping road to the entrance, and the cave-like interior was designed as the opposite of the soundproof, versatile, geometric exterior covered with white polyurethane, writes dezeen.com.
The designers and contractors built the structure with the help of a parametric computer modeling software, using only 66 wooden beams, including the vaulted dome above the altar and the parts around the sacristy. The pulpit, the candle holders and the simple but practical cube chairs were made from artificial chipboards, OSB. And the central altar with a white background, floating in natural light, gives the spiritual content to the whole. See in the gallery how a modern roadside chapel looks today!