Guduk Presbyterian Church
Essay by Seung, H-Sang
When I quitted SPACE Group in 1989 to have my own studio, namely when I did no longer have to do ‘SooKeun Kim’s architecture’ well, and therefore, when I had to talk about and design H - Sang Seung’s architecture, I was not prepared at all. As I wrote once, I was like a sailor on a small vessel thrown out onto a dark ocean. At that time, those who helped me greatly were the members of 4.3 Group formed in 1990. Captured by a passion, we used to gather at least once every month to discuss architecture all through the night, not sparing encouragement and reprimand for each other. Through them, I came to find a clue to be awakened of myself who had been caught in ‘SooKeun Kim’s architecture’ for the last 15 years. Although forgotten for long, it was a young architect in me too different from Sir. SooKeun Kim who had dictated my architecture.
Until my college days in Seoul, I had lived in Busan, but more correctly speaking, I seemed to live in a church rather than Busan. That is, my childhood was inseparable from the church. The church was founded and built personally by my daddy. Since our house was adjacent to the church, I seemed to have my personality nurtured within the boundary of the church, being supported by my parents’ absolute Christian faith. Calvinism formed a basis of my spirit, and the Catechism starting ‘What is the prime purpose of men?’, was a text of my life. Whenever I was inside it, my body and should were comfortable. So, I believed that truth sets us free.
The churchyard was my playground, and the attic in the bell tower was my reading room, and I grew up together with a fig rooted in a corner of the yard. When I was coming up to Seoul, I faced down in the chapel seemingly stained with the traces of all my life thus far and offered my last prayer there to the God and bade farewell to the church. After I came to Seoul, I could no longer afford to go to church. When I rarely managed to go to a church, my memory of the church in Busan prevented me from being engaged in the new church. Thus, I would distance myself from church. Maybe, I seemed to profess the church more than Christianity. The church is Kuduk Presbyterian Church.
Last summer when it was as long as 35 years since I had left Kuduk Presbyterian Church, I was called by one of my old friends in Busan. The church would be rebuilt, so I must be eligible for its design. I heard him absent-mindedly, but all of a sudden, I was sane enough to ask him to explain in more details. He said the design competition had already been announced in a vernacular newspaper, murmuring that because I had already been ‘renowned architect’ the church people just thought I would be little interested in such a small church design or I might have forgotten about the church, so they did not even inform me of their plan. I could not but participate in the competition, and after a series of vicissitudes for a couple of months; my plan would win the competition.
Of course, I was obliged to design this church at least for myself under any conditions. The last prayer offered by me to the God in its chapel. It might have been an unripe vow, but I could never forget it.
I was allowed to practice architecture again at SPACE Group, and 3 years later, Sir. SooKeun Kim would specially love to see to it that I would take charge of Masan Catholic Church design. Since master Kim had little specific knowledge of Catholic or Protestantism, he seemed to rely on me much as long as Christian buildings were concerned. I took such an opportunity to conceive the plan of Masan Catholic Church as I pleased.
In fact, there should be no prototype of Christian church buildings. Having been disappointed with the behaviors of Jerusalem Church obsessed with interpretations of Commandment, Jesus Christ would call His people to field, mountaintop or seaside to herald them the true law or the good news. So, the prototype of Christian buildings, if any, may be an outdoor place. Moreover, as God is an omnipresent Being, the idea of meeting Him in church when we want to see Him may violate the Christian doctrine.
Nowadays, what concerns me about church buildings is, above all, confusion between religious architecture and pseudo - religious one. I cannot but feel sad for such inconsolable situations as quasi - Gothic styles mimicking the Gothic awkwardly with no understanding of its spirit or the pretended churches with steeple and neon cross on the poor building rooftop, because they seem to be mistakenly known as universal religious architecture. The reality is, however, that such churches insist on being religious, although their tightly enclosing walls or closed doors do never render a religious atmosphere.§§
What I emphasized in the plan of Masan Catholic Church was not the chapel itself. Rather, I attempted to materialize a landscape of the Christians coming up to the church. I thought that when a Christian left home for this church, he or she would have already begun to be engaged in some religious activities, so I tried to ‘architecturize’ the indiscrete path into the church. Namely, I was ambitious enough to contain the Christians slowly coming up the path or an elongated slope and thereby, create a religious landscape. Then, wouldn’t ‘miracle of Call and grace of Response’ unfold brilliantly here? Thus, I named it 'Religious Festival’.
To be more honest, Masan Catholic Church may well be a reinterpreted version of Kuduk Church, a memory of my childhood. The feeling of climbing up the mild slope before the church to view its yard filled full with sun shines was always warm and peaceful. Whenever I started walking up the access road, I felt as if I were entering into another world.
According to Sir. SooKeun Kim instruction to highlight a religious symbol, the rectangular plane was changed into an irregular diagram, while the flat slab was replaced with a uniquely sloped roof with a centroid, but the original plan remained almost same.
Later at Kyongdong Church, which I designed during my days at SPACE Group, I urged the people to climb up an elongated stairway from an access road for the ‘religious festival’. When setting a sky church on the rooftop, I designed such a festive procession leading to the sky to make the festival sublime. Unfortunately, the Sky Church itself would disappear as it changed into an indoor space recently.
My goal for Dolmaru Catholic Church committed to me after my independence from SPACE Group lied in a thorough disclosure of such a path of belief. The slow slope starting from the levee of a rice field would pass the yard of the church to lead to an outdoor 14 - station worship path and then, twist its direction to descend a little and reach the main building. In particular, the background against this passage was set with a colorless concrete in order to highlight the landscape of the Christians visiting the God.
Later at Junggok-Dong Catholic Church, too, and at a Methodist Church in Iksan as well, the contents were similar despite different forms. The yard cross - encountered by them as soon as they enter into the realm of church, the deck with a level different from the ground following the yard, and the sun lights and silence unfolding when the door is open... Although these are my favorite architectural vocabularies, they may as well be found in numerous historical masterpieces.
Some people just understand them only as architectural elements, and therefore, they are concerned about the closed scenario formed of such elements. If I should be obliged to remove such an misunderstanding, I would like to say that as for me, I believe that they are not simply the parts for the whole structure but religious for themselves also. So, my churches are neither set linear to be completed only with pulpit or communion table, nor dichotomizing the world into mundane and sacred areas. I just wished to complete my churches with such elements at least.
The site for the new Kuduk Church included the house I lived in when young; the house was built by my daddy, too. Quite surprisingly, the house remained there, although it was as long as 4 decades since I left the house... Not only the house but also the narrow lane before it, and even the rough mortar finish and egg - color painting thereupon remained so. The capacity of memory possessed by architecture is terribly strong. Various memories of the past engulfed me.
I attempted to contain such memories in the new Kuduk Church. Lane and yard, a fig, views in the lane... Although abstract, all these elements are contained in the design.
The perfection of this church has a special meaning for me. Maybe, I might be relieved of the heavy burden shouldered on me or I would have to shoulder a heavier burden. What is clear, however, is that I could keep the promise I made for the God 35 years before.
Site area : 1,678.00m²
Bldg. area: 1,000.99m²
Gross floor area : 5,411.42m²
Bldg. scale : 3 Stories below ground, 7 Stories above ground
Structure : Reinforced concrete
Exterior finishing : Basalt, Titanium
Interior finishing : Acrylic paint, Exposed Concrete, Plywood (Birch), Epoxy paint
Design period : 2005.11 - 2006.5
Construction period : 2006.8 - 2008.3
