The Beautiful Våler Church by Espen Surnevik

Våler, Norway

The following description is courtesy of Espen Surnevik.

The open international competition for Våler church is one of the largest in Norway ever, with 239 proposals from 23 countries. The competitions winner proposal where finished spring 2015.

Våler is a small village along the Glomma River. The churchyard is one of the few planned areas of the town centre, and when the old 19th Century church burned down in 2009, people felt the loss very keenly. The all but impossible task of the new church was to recreate the lost space as a frame for significant events in local people’s lives.

The buildings expression was generated as a direct response to the place and organised around a quadrat with four oriels pointing north, south, east and west, as an analogy to the old cross-church. 

The main story of the liturgy has become the narrative of the church: from fire to resurrection. The new church is placed on the existing processional axis, and clad in straight board of heartwood pine, reflecting the local forest landscape. The natural facades have a long local tradition. Due to climate they slowly get darker before ending up going back to nature. Every fifty years the façade-wood will be renewed, and the church will resurrect as new for every new-born generation.

The interior is covered in birch plywood. The artistic elaboration in the interior seeks to “eradicate” the reality of the loadbearing structure and achieve an expression of lightness. The towers mark the main liturgical spaces, the church hall and the baptistery, rising from a common cast concrete plinth, the “bedrock” of the church.

The footprint of the old crosschurch, were made into a memorial as a big grave in the middle of the old graveyard. Behind the memorial the new church rises up. The new church is built as a cultural arena, and open-minded gathering-place for the whole community of Våler.

Våler Church of Resurrection

In 2009 the old wooden church in Våler where lost in a fire. The loss of their two-hundred-year-old wood church was a tragedy for the small local community. Placed in the middle of the pine forests in the eastern part of Norway, the local community decided to rebuild a new church built in wood. They arranged an open architect competition which turned out to be one of the largest in Norway ever, with 239 proposals from 23 countries.

The project «en med to av tre» was chosen as the winner for the competition. Work was immediately initiated after the victory, and continued non-stop for three years until the new church was finished.

The main challenge in the project was to give the local community a meaningful church back. As a paradox the tragic loss of the old church gave the birth to a new beginning. The theme of the new church thereby became resurrection. Together with the artist, Espen Dietrichson, we worked with different design elements to manifestate the theme trough the project. The most important element is the work with daylight coming inn to the church from different daylightopenings. This symbolises hope, and that light defies darkness, after the tragic loss of the old church.

The project is clad in core-pine on the outside, and in birch-plywood on the inside. This represents the huge pine- and birchwoods that surrounds the site, in which the project wants to belong. The core-pine is a natural and organic material which in the Norwegian climate gets its dark patina. Slowly the pine-cladding returns to nature, and every fifty years the cladding will be replaced, and the church will be «reborn» for new generations. 

The forms of the building is designed by strict geometric rules. The plan is quadratic and divided by a diagonal procession-axis going from a small Chappell, placed south, and over to the main church room placed north. Two towers are showing where the liturgics points are placed in the church. The highest tower is 24m high, and the small tower is 12m. The towers have overlights on the top, making a view from the audience towards the sky. At the same time the overlights allow daylight to enter the rooms.

In the site plan, the footprint of the old church is rebuilt to make a memorial. The old church is brought to rest between the graves on the old graveyard.

Project Details

Client: Våler church-council (Location Våler – Hedmark – Norway)

Architect: Espen Surnevik (1973) – professor at The Oslo School of Architecture

Collaborating structural engineer: Dr. Techn. Kristoffer Apeland AS

Collaborating artist: Espen Dietrichson (1976)

Contractor / Entrepreneur: Martin M. Bakken AS

Project type: Lutheran Norwegian Church.

Location: The eastern part of Norway, close to the Swedish border, two hours driving north of Oslo. Våler-center (place) – Våler (local district) – Hedmark (district) – Norway

Site: Old cemetery form the 17th century.

Project size: The Church is 950 square meters. The large tower is 24m high. Small towers are 12m high.

Awards: Våler Church is awarded with:

• Building of the Year 2015 in Norway (Årets bygg 2015)
• Norwegian wood-award 2016 (Innlandets trepris 2016)
• Archmarathon Award Milano 2016 “Best Religious Building”
• The Norwegian Governmental Award of Architecture 2016 (Statens Byggeskikkpris 2016)