Studio Bright adds fluted-concrete chapel to church in Australia

Australian practice Studio Bright has extended St Mary's Coptic Church in northwest Melbourne with a building wrapped in corrugated concrete and arches edged in gold.

The two-storey extension introduces a chapel and community spaces to the existing red-brick building, built in Kensington in 1920 as an Anglican church.

Given St Mary's Coptic Church's position on a prominent corner site near Kensington's shopping street, Studio Bright set out to give the building a strong civic presence and establish a strong "communal network".

Alongside the chapel, it contains the priest's offices, Sunday school rooms, kitchens, a community hall and a childcare centre for the growing Coptic Orthodox church.

"The design organises the site to prioritise community-first design principles, maximising the interactive aspects of the building and providing space for worship, gathering, meals, play, and quiet contemplation," said Studio Bright.

"As a cultural and religious building within an established Australian suburb, we hope the project successfully integrates the Coptic Orthodox community into the broader Kensington community, we think both are richer for it".

St Mary's Coptic Church is made of corrugated concrete with a colonnade of rounded arches edged in gold metal trim – a reference to the gold interiors of traditional Coptic architecture.

A pitched roof helps the building step down to the surrounding single-storey buildings and the busy main road down to Kensington's high street shops.

The extension follows a C-shaped plan, with the northern wing unfolding to follow the geometry of the existing building.

This gesture, combined with the removal of a high metal picket fence, allowed the studio to carve out a new public street. Flanked by the old and new church buildings, it serves as a cut-through for locals.

It also created space for a north-facing community courtyard, which opens to the main street and provides a larger setting for the parish during weekends and after evening mass to hold fetes, weddings and community events.

With a garden, a sandpit and a stage at its centre, this multipurpose space also offers a secure outdoor play area for use during childcare operating hours.

A band of planting designed by landscape architecture practice Openwork forms a porous threshold that marks the boundary between public and private space.

Other recent religious buildings featured on Dezeen include a church in Albania formed of curved concrete by architecture practice Arkpro Studio and British studio ShedKM's church in Merseyside with a transparent facade designed to glow at night.

The photography is by Rory Gardiner. 

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