Collard Clarke Jackson

While Canberra may not be known as the City of Churches (that’s Adelaide), the new Grace Chapel at Burgmann Anglican School certainly lift its chances of claiming that mantle. The chapel occupies a large site on the sweeping Territorian plain. Rangy grasses and hardy perennials dot the countryside, and blend seamlessly into the chapel’s contemporary Australian architecture. It is from this landscape, at a perfect eastwest orientation, that the burnt-orange citadel of the chapel rises.

In its orientation, the chapel is a creature of tradition. The chapel takes after the early Anglican churches in Australia, which were in turn modelled on the historic churches of northern Europe. Its nave axis sits on a geographic line from east to west, a reference to the fact that the sun rises in the east in both meteorology and Christianity, the latter of which prophesies a resurrection from that direction. Parishioners enter through the western foyer and look east towards the apse. In antiquity, a church’s north side represented the four gospels and the south side the epistles. This finds reflection in the modernity of Grace Chapel – the lectern from which the scriptures are read is on the north face, and the pulpit from which the sermon is preached is on the south. In this regard, the footprint of the chapel serves as an anchor for both local geography and Anglican theology.

The classic footprint of the building is countered by a rip-roaring contemporary design. The chapel is integrated with a drama centre, with unique architectural features that make the entire facility capable of hosting conferences or meetings – in short, rendering the chapel a multi-purpose centre. The integration is at once subtle and glaringly apparent: it is achieved by large swinging doors on both the chapel and drama centre, which when opened allow for an expansion from 180 and 100 people respectively to 700 people across the united complex. When positioned to seal the chapel and the drama centre, the swinging doors appear merely as wooden feature walls in a particularly lovely shade of tan. However, when opened into the central courtyard, the doors frame a single open space of green, brown and slate.

While the facility is multi-purpose, it remains a sacred space. Collard Clarke Jackson immortalise this by incorporating numerous symbols of universal elements such as fire, water, air and earth. A column of light in the vestibule, lit by sunlight during the day and artificially at night, symbolises fire and rebirth in the Christian tradition. The grounds contain a contemplating pond and a black granite water feature, representing the water of the driest continent on the planet. The enormous spaces in the facility speak to the air, aided by the timber slats of the ceiling whose seemingly random placement evoke a light forest canopy. And finally, the natural stone and slate anchor the complex to its hardy location and represent the earth.

The design is as sustainable as it is innovative. Low-energy lights combine with bounds of natural daylight. Water systems collect rain- and ground-water and recycle it through a 250000-litre tank under the building, for use in irrigation and sanitation. Hydronic slab heating and cooling uses solar hot water heated on the roof and cooled under the building in summer. Completing the ‘green’ package are recycled timber and overland drainage systems such as dry ponding.

The integrated facility was a product of reduced funds and rising costs, speaking to the old proverb that adversity elicits talents which may otherwise have lain dormant. A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner, and in this Collard Clarke Jackson have risen to the occasion: beneath the butterfly roof of their integrated facility lies spaces for educating, meeting, and interacting. By combining religious and practical concerns, the facility provides a truly unique community centre. +

1 When opened into the central courtyard, the doors frame a single open space of green, brown and slate. 2 The chapel is integrated with a drama centre, rendering the chapel a multi-purpose facility. 3 The footprint serves as an anchor for both local geography and Anglican theology. 4 Beneath the butterfly roof lies spaces for meeting, educating and interacting. 5 Rangy grasses and hardy perennials dot the landscape. 6 Timber slats in the ceiling evoke a light forest canopy. 7 The integration is achieved by large swinging doors which create a united facility.

PHOTOGRAPHY by Ben Wrigley