The establishment of Oikumene Church was due to the urgency to accommodate the needs of Christian worship place for the plantation employees and locals nearby. This project is a part of the CSR Programme ( Corporate Social Responsibility ) from PT. KMS , a company that work in plantation field. The Church is located in the highest altitude and East-West orientation.
The design is an approach of Single Materiality, which is using one material as a whole space creator , and in this project , wood , is chosen as the material. This approach is a team idea to design by using local material. The architectural concept inspired by Rumah Betang , a traditional dwelling in a form of long house that used by the locals, The Dayaks.Phylosophically this church designed by reflecting on how God save human race from sin , which depicted by the architecture on how the slanted roof sustained by the church’s wall.
The main type of wood that being used are Bengkirai wood , Kapur wood , and Meranti Wood. These woods are residue from wood industry as our response to environmental empowerment. Facade of the Church using mixed of Rimba wood, while Meranti wood is used as an interior material to create a harmonization with the environment.
The interior concept is coming back to the function of its space , accommodate the church’s chore which including lots activity related to music. A platform provided as part of the interior. Due to the rough weather in Kalimantan ( high heat temperature during the day ) , it is very crucial to keep the space inside comfortable enough to carry on the activity without air conditioner. The design adapt the situation by using jack roof to enable cross ventilation system.
The enticing phase from the design process is the detail making and wood fabrication process. These process are taking a quite long time because of the difficulty to supply Bengkirai wood. The wood also mixed with RC type wood , that need to be sorted out based on the quality and usage possibility . Because we work with natural material , size precision and MC ( moisture content ) is very important , the process is going back and forth depending on the wood condition.
With keeping the locality and traditional value , the form of Oikumene Church, humbly blend as a space with the local architecture and the community.
