Designing a One-flat Church as a Small-scale Community Space in a Densely Populated Urban Environment to Perform Both Sacred and Contemporary Functions

Poon Shek Wing Louis (2013)

With regard to the context of Hong Kong, churches are restricted to being built in a densely populated urban environment in flat space. This research investigates the relationship between theology and spatial design in Hong Kong Protestant churches and analyses the lack of design concerning sacred identity in the churches of Hong Kong, leading to an unappealing and non-sacred appearance of the Protestant church. This study aims to understand the influence of secularisation on the rationale of church design and generate the church's appropriate identity from a theoretical standpoint to serve the contemporary community effectively. By conducting an empirical study of 171 churches in Hong Kong and interviews with 15 pastors and professors, this study explicates methods to facilitate church design, focusing on the immanence quality instead of transcendence representation, which overcomes the spatial limitations in church design.