Julong Town is a new gated city located in the mountains northwest of Quanzhou. For its comprehensive planning providing its residents with a wide range of commercial, social and educational facilities it has received general acclaim in the media and is widely considered the future of residential planning in China. Most residents agree, however, that the foremost quality of this place is the striking proximity to nature: only 15Km away from the 7-million-people metropolis the settlement is virtually immersed in lush mountain forests! Since its opening to the public the town‘s population has constantly grown, attracting people from all over the country. Today, it is even home to a considerable population of Christians. For many years the congregation has met in a small shop front. With Sunday services eventually becoming too crowded the management of Julong Town has now donated a beatiful piece of land on an empty mountain slope for the construction of a church for 1000 people!

Surrounded by thick forests, yet well exposed towards the valley, the new church has the chance to develop into a true landmark visible from the entire town. It is this unique spatial quality, however, that also poses the greatest questions concerning the future architecture: Firstly, with nearly 20 metres of height difference from the lowest to the highest point of the site, how to ensure the convenient circulation and intelligent organization of the building, without resulting to major earthworks or other uneconomical means? And secondly, how to place such a well-sized sanctuary into a fragile and pristine natural setting, without overpowering it?

When conceiving the architecture of Julong Town‘s Christian church we answered these questions by going to the source of our faith itself - the Bible:

“On this rock I will build my church“ says Jesus to St. Peter. Inspired by his promise, all activities revolving around the congregation‘s day-to-day mission, such as teaching, rehearsal, and bible study will be organized on a plinth of metaphorical rocks, seemingly emerging from the bedrock of the mountain itself, and forming a terraced architecture that takes full advantage of the topography.

“Go into the ark, because I have found you righteous“ commands our Lord to Noah. Like the Ark for Noah and his family, the church will constitute a save haven for the Christians of Julong, gently afloat on an ocean of green.

“And seeing the multitude, he went up into a mountain (...) and his disciples came unto him“ Mathew tells us in the story of the “Sermon on the Mount“. Just as the central message of our Lord was delivered in plain nature, the design for the sanctuary will avoid the intensive employment of styles and materials, and rather integrate the visual adoration of God‘s creation itself into its liturgic architectural concept.