Cazis stone church
The stone church in Cazis is the church of the Protestant parish of Cazis am Heinzenberg in the Swiss canton of Graubünden .
prehistory
The evangelical parish in Cazis was founded in 1968 as the youngest parish in the Colloquium III Nid dem Wald . On the occasion of the foundation, a rectory with a small integrated parish hall was built. At the same time, land was acquired from the property of the neighboring Dominican convent for a later church building .
Larger church services took place in neighboring Thusis or in the Catholic parish church. Due to the increasing number of members, the need for its own church increased.
In 1994 the first study contracts for a new church were commissioned. According to the room plan, the church should offer space for around 240 people and be able to be divided into three individual rooms. In March 1995, the project by the architect Werner Schmidt from Trun in Graubünden was selected as the winner from the seven submitted works .
Project
The project envisaged three round, stone-shaped structures that can be separated from one another by retractable walls. A connecting wing was supposed to connect to the existing rectory. At the same time it should contain the sacristy and toilets. A free-standing tower was to be built next to the church.
The jury, parish and pastor were convinced of this unconventional project and in March 1996 the project was approved by the parish assembly. The building loan amounted to 3.9 million francs, half of which were to be covered by a contribution from the cantonal church treasury and half by the sale of building land.
construction
The shell construction began in April 1996. Heinz Isler from Burgdorf was brought in as a specialist in shell construction . 108 different wooden elements were produced, which were placed on a foundation like slices of an orange, covered with a fine-meshed metal grid and then coated with shotcrete until a thickness of approx. 15 centimeters was reached. The individual egg-shaped parts were connected to one another with steel struts.
The topping-out ceremony was celebrated in November and the shell construction was completed in April 1997. The construction of the tower had to be avoided for the time being for financial reasons. In January 1998, the church was put into operation as a construction site with a temporary heating system. With a new architect, Diederik Peper from Chur, the interior was completed and the connecting wing made of wood and (mirrored) glass was created. In January 2002 the church was inaugurated with a festive service by Pastor Roland Härdi, who at the same time ended his activity as pastor.
The sculptures in front of the church are by Daniel Grass from Zizers.
Litigation
Today's building design contradicts Werner Schmidt's original design idea of making the connecting wing appear as a contrast to the heavy "stones" as light, transparent bars. The bolt should be the flowing connection between the church and nature. Architect Werner Schmidt complained against this. The 2009 federal court ruling confirms that his copyright has been infringed. The court did not want to know anything about the demolition of the side wing, which was requested by Schmidt. As a punishment, the Protestant parish has to announce its copyright infringement in several newspapers and specialist publications in the form of advertisements and pay part of the procedural costs. Architect Werner Schmidt receives 8,000 francs in process compensation.
inner space
Inside the very bright church space there is deliberately no front or back, every point of the interior can be both in the front and in the back of the building. Every visitor should create his own personal point of view and thus come to his own point of view on God and his fellow human beings.
The arrangement of the windows is intended to reinforce the subject's perspective: the eastern window is directed towards the sky, the middle one towards the horizon and the western towards the street and thus towards the people. The view from the windows thus draws a line from the sky to the people.
gallery
inner space
Plant from the inside
inner space
Web links
Coordinates: 46 ° 43 ′ 32 " N , 9 ° 25 ′ 40" E ; CH1903: 752,045 / 176855