Botton Church

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Camphill Architects , United Kingdom

Botton Church is part of Botton Village, a Camphill community for disabled adults. The residents work on the farm or in practical trades and workshops in the village. The chapel as well as the hall forms the cultural heart of the community. The design of the chapel arose out of collaboration over several years between the architect and the user groups.

During this developmental process, a number of properties were considered and the design went through different phases accordingly. The shape of the building reveals a living metamorphosis of forms, between the expansive, opening forms on the western side and the cantilevered enclosing curve on the eastern side.

Between these forms (inhaling and exhaling) lies the nave, a place of stillness and quietude. Here the community meets and here the building directly contributes to an appropriate mood of soul.

David Sutherland

• Client: Botton Christian Community Church
• Project: church, new construction
• Total area: 360 m2
• Commencement of planning: 1991
• Completion: 1994
• Architects: David Sutherland and Wilfried Bohm