Four centuries later, in , the construction of a new church finally began. Located in a suburban neighborhood north of Copenhagen, the building offers a hermetic image framed by a series of carefully placed birch trees.
The facade and roof materials β prefabricated panels of concrete and corrugated fibercement β emphasize its industrial character, closer to that of a barn than to a religious temple. The interior, however, surprises for its expressiveness.
This dual character is also reflected in the geometry of the floor plan and the section. The Cartesian rigor of the plan, distributed around rectangular courtyards, marks a contrast with the dynamism of the section delimited by a ceiling that folds following circular lines. Through a longitudinal opening at the highest point, light flows in through the undulated surface generating an ethereal space in front of the altar.
As Utzon himself explained, this idea arose at a beach in Hawaii when, lying on the sand, he observed light passing through a group of clouds. Besides its symbolic character and aesthetic properties, this surprising vault reflects sound and achieves excellent acoustics. The construction of the undulating slab, 15 centimeters thick, was carried out with concrete sprayed on site on a steel mesh, resting provisionally on wood coffering that imprints its rugged texture on the interior side.
The corridors on which the slab rests are formed by two rows of concrete pillars placed at 2. The perimetral connecting corridor between them gives access to the different spaces and also functions as light crack, covered as it is by a transparent pitched roof. The furniture, the organ, the doors, and even the ecclesiastical clothing were designed specifically for this project.
