Here’s an architectural fusion you don’t see often: a combined megachurch / megamall.
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| From rendering to reality |
The Star Vista is a massive display of wild architectural forms by Aedas architects which manages to inspire churchgoers with dramatic formal gestures while generating income through the shopping mall below. An enormous hall for a church congregation of nearly 25,000 is dramatically lifted off the ground, allowing the retail shops below to be carved by a number of breezy open-air passages which allow porosity in the ground level strata. The raised performance venues can also be rented out when they are not in use for services. It’s an interesting programmatic concept combining religious function with economic productivity. I wonder how ideas from this hybrid be used on a smaller scale to prevent beautiful churches across the world with shrinking populations from becoming redundant?
Images by Jonathan Choe
Unlike its 3d renderings(in which the building looked like its barely touching the ground). The realisation of the design leaves alot to be desired. The actual building looks heavy/bulky much like an overbearing out of scale monstrosity.
Agreed, the glass in the rendered version was much more translucent, but luckily ground level porosity on site remains true to the original concept. It is a monstrosity though!