Architects Lassi Viitanen, Caspar Åkerblom Location Kirkkotie 14, Lieto Gross Area 615 m2 Completion 2024 Old Building around 1470
The renewed and extended medieval stone church of Lieto tests the most unshakable foundations of architectural heritage thinking, writes Panu Savolainen. Read the review → “The 550-Year-Old Precedent”
Photos Antti Partanen
Drawings Architecturestudio NOAN
The medieval stone church was expanded in 1902 with a red brick chancel.Location and urban structure.The new section, the Bread Room, is built in the northeast corner of the church. It emulates the exterior shape of the adjacent original sacristy.The Bread Room is built of massive ceramic blocks. The copper cladding blends it into the church’s exterior architecture. There is a glass vestibule leading from the Bread Room to the hexagonal chancel completed in 1902.The technical solutions take into account the possibility of later removing the extension and without tampering with the medieval walls.Floor plan.Noan designed all the fixed and movable furnishings, including the altar, baptismal font, decorative elements, organ facade, additional lighting fixtures, and handles.In the worship hall, everything except the new altar and organ is movable. The modern chancel is marked with text embedded in the floor.The baptismal font and altar stand out from the other furnishings with their organic shapes and emphasize the view of the sacraments (baptism and communion) in the church hall.Projections of the main church space.The worship hall and the old chancel were separated by a glass wall to allow for more versatile use. Thus, the chancel’s altarpiece remains as part of the overall visual experience of the hall.The Bread Room is equipped with a small kitchen and an accessible toilet. The sound-absorbing panel wall, like the furnishings, is made of oak.The sacristy also features new furniture designed by Noan. The vertical motifs tie the new furniture together into a whole.
