Bronze Parish Center FOKUS

The parish church of St. Stephen in the Upper Austrian municipality of Sierning dominated the main square until recently, along with the old massive castle that houses the municipal office and music school. Both dominant buildings are now complemented by the parish center FOKUS, situated in close proximity to the church. The visual connection between the neighboring historic buildings and the ultramodern new construction of the 21st century is remarkably natural.

The unconventional parish center was created by architects from the ARKFORM studio. In its design, they oscillated between two planes that they tried to balance into mutual harmony. From their experience of having transformed many municipal squares, port areas, directorates, or mountain hotels, they know that they must primarily consider the perspective of the local inhabitants, their wishes and needs. This became a guiding principle even in the case of FOKUS. An example is the so-called kitchen construction committee, where mainly its future users, who are over seventy years old, explained in detail to the architects what they would need to feel comfortable here. The second plane was the connection with the surroundings through broader dialogue.

Klaus Landerl, founding partner of ARKFORM, knows Sierning well. He lives in the neighboring town, and his parents were married in St. Stephen's Church. Therefore, for him, both the dialogue with the town's inhabitants and the visual interplay of two different architectural styles in close proximity – the sandstone walls of the 14th-century church versus the facade made of color-stable PREFA aluminum composite panels in bronze color – were significant. Seemingly incompatible objects harmoniously communicate optically, like two opposites that are attracted to each other. The old-modern face of the square captivates every passerby. The color of the aluminum facade actually resembles the sandstone of the high Gothic church. Yet from every side and with almost every additional step, it reflects the light entirely differently. The pronounced shadow plays cast by the horizontally projected bronze-colored roof overhangs seem to embrace the whole apse of the church. And Klaus Landerl emphasizes another parallel: “Just as sandstone is created – in layers, by cementing clusters of quartz, feldspar, and rock fragments – so too is the PREFABOND composite panel, which is layered from two aluminum sheets, thermally bonded to a polyethylene core on both sides. Thanks to the chemical and mechanical bonding, this connection, unlike that of sandstone, is exceptionally strong and durable.”

Bronze on bronze

FOKUS also has a bronze roof. However, due to the roof plane's gentle slope, it is not easily visible to the street visitor. It is made of strips of bronze-colored PREFALZ aluminum coil sheets. On the longer eaves, a foil gutter with hidden drainage is inserted. The roof structure is double-shelled, ventilated, and protected at the eaves edge by tubular snow guards also from PREFA Aluminiumprodukte, and in the identical bronze shade.

Change is life

ARKFORM has built the new FOKUS parish center in Sierning with an elegant sense for originality and necessity at the same time. It is truly evident how much the architects enjoy building. “Not only to design but also to build,” has been the core of their work for years. They do not want to be merely so-called paper architects. They visit the construction sites themselves and often change many things during the realization. They do not see this as a flaw of the original project but rather as its improvement and optimization. “Even with the FOKUS parish center, many things were ultimately decided based on the situation. For example, the slopes of the facade surfaces were marked directly on site with the carpenter and roofer,” adds Gabriel Trinkl, project manager of the Sierning parish center.

About the project:

Country: Austria
Building, place: FOKUS parish center, Sierning
Type of construction: new building
Architects: ARKFORM
Execution: Dach Zach
Type of roof: PREFALZ
Roof color: bronze
Type of facade: PREFA aluminum composite panel PREFABOND
Facade color: bronze
PHOTOGRAPHS AND DRAWINGS: Croce & WIR