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Dhima, S. (Examiner)

Activity: Academic assessments › Pre-examination of doctoral thesis or acting as opponent to doctoral students or membership of doctoral thesis committee or board

Description

Monitoimikirkkoarkkitehtuuri Helsingin seudulla 1900-1960-luvulla

Period	16 Jun 2020 → 15 Sept 2021
Examination held at	Helsingin yliopisto
Degree of Recognition	National

Keywords

190-luku
arkkitehtuuri
evankelis-luterilainen kirkko
kirkkorakennukset
monitoimikirkko
monitoimisuus
seurakunnat
seurakuntalot
Helsinki
väitöskirja

Documents & Links

This dissertation examines changes in the perceptions and practices of architectural space in the context of the Lutheran sacral building in Finland from the 1900s to the mid-1960s. The topic was approached by studying multifunctional churches completed in Helsinki and its surrounding areas. In addition to a chapel, these hybrid buildings also contain other types of facilities, such as parish halls, club rooms, gyms, offices and employees' apartments. Nearly 40 Lutheran multifunctional churches were built in the Helsinki metropolitan area between 1900 and 1965. Both the temporal evolution and the development efforts associated with the building type have been examined in the light of six main case studies: the Betania (‘Bethany’) City Mission House (now known as the Betania Community Center) in Punavuori and the Kallio evangelical meeting house (now known as the Chapel of the Sacred Heart), both completed in the early 1900s; the Töölö Parish Hall (nowadays Church) and Saint Paul’s Church in Vallila, both built in the early 1930s; and the parish centers of Munkkivuori and Tapiola, both erected by the mid-1960s. The methodology used in this study is based on a close comparative reading of various research materials, such as buildings, drawings, written documents, newspaper clippings, memoirs and photographs. The research method was harnessed to closely reconstruct contemporary perspectives on the definition, design, execution, and everyday use of multifunctional church buildings. Theoretically, the dissertation relies on French theories of space, where the societal dimensions of spatial production are emphasized. Thus, space is defined as a physically, mentally, and socially conceived process. The analysis highlights the interconnections of the functional-structural goals of the multipurpose church building and categories of gender, class, age and language group. One of the key concepts used in the dissertation is that of heterotopia, developed by Michel Foucault. With this term, Foucault refers to a lived utopia, a special site or place where the prevailing social orders are reflected either directly or inversely. From the point of view of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the multifunctional church building became a transformative instrument of internal renewal denoting the ability of Christianity to adapt to the ideological challenges and utilitarian requirements of the modern world. From the users’ perspective, the building type expanded and diversified the spectrum of religious practice. Architects, who relied on modernist design principals that emphasized the functional separation of spaces, were generally resistant to the concept of the multipurpose church building.