Church Street
An urban community building exterior by Jan Kattein Architects combining historic half-timbering with a contemporary folded-metal entry porch and integrated public seating.
- What we like about this project
- Bright turquoise handrails and benches inject a playful accent into the neutral historic palette.
Materials
- timber
- zinc
- glass
- stone
- wire-gabion
Visual identifiers
- half-timber
- folded-zinc-porch
- gabion-seating
- patterned-paving
Style tags
- contemporary
- contextual
- civic
Visual tags
- community-hub
- public-realm
- historic-integration
- urban-facade
- streetscape
- Geometry
- An asymmetric pitched-roof volume with a faceted, angled metal porch entry juxtaposed against a historic half-timbered single-story body.
- Facade system
- Half-timbered infill panels paired with a glazed curtain wall within an angled metal portal frame.
- Structural guess
- Load-bearing traditional framing with a steel portal frame addition at the glazed entrance.
- Spatial scale
- Human-scale community storefront and public realm; one to two stories high.
- Lighting
- Diffused overcast daylight with soft shadows and interior warm light spilling through the glass facade.
- Atmosphere
- Welcoming and active civic atmosphere bridged by contrasting historic and modern geometries.
- Environmental context
- Urban street corner with historic brick context, deciduous trees framing the foreground, and patterned public paving.
- Spatial experience
- The public square steps down into a tiered gathering space with gabion seating, framing the glazed public entrance.
- Composition rhythm
- Vertical half-timber grid contrasts sharply with the sharp triangular geometry of the central metal portal.
- Style reading
- Contextual contemporary public architecture
- Program
- Community center or civic hub
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- timber, zinc, glass, stone, wire-gabion
- Visual identifiers
- half-timber, folded-zinc-porch, gabion-seating, patterned-paving
- Style tags
- contemporary, contextual, civic
- Visual tags
- community-hub, public-realm, historic-integration, urban-facade, streetscape
- Geometry
- An asymmetric pitched-roof volume with a faceted, angled metal porch entry juxtaposed against a historic half-timbered single-story body.
- Facade system
- Half-timbered infill panels paired with a glazed curtain wall within an angled metal portal frame.
- Structural guess
- Load-bearing traditional framing with a steel portal frame addition at the glazed entrance.
- Spatial scale
- Human-scale community storefront and public realm; one to two stories high.
- Lighting
- Diffused overcast daylight with soft shadows and interior warm light spilling through the glass facade.
- Atmosphere
- Welcoming and active civic atmosphere bridged by contrasting historic and modern geometries.
- Environmental context
- Urban street corner with historic brick context, deciduous trees framing the foreground, and patterned public paving.
- Spatial experience
- The public square steps down into a tiered gathering space with gabion seating, framing the glazed public entrance.
- Composition rhythm
- Vertical half-timber grid contrasts sharply with the sharp triangular geometry of the central metal portal.
- Style reading
- Contextual contemporary public architecture
- Program
- Community center or civic hub
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture