Wood Church In Kärsämäki

The ancient parish church of Kärsämäki, picturesquely located on the banks of a river, was demolished in 1841. The move to “reconstruct” the monument was first broached in 1998. The approach was twofold: to design a new church along simple, modern lines that would, however, be built using 18th century wood construction techniques. In-depth archival research resulted in this completely wood, pine-frame building assembled using only the tongue and groove technique, and wooden nails and dowels at the key structural points. Every technical detail was meticulously respected: horses transported the semi-finished boards on site; replicas of old working tools were made and used; the aspen shingles were waterproofed with a coating of tar; and wood components were finished on site with axes, hand saws and chisels. In the same spirit, a birch bark insulating layer was placed between the outer shingles and the wooden roof structure. In tandem with this recovery programme, the architecture is a large cubic volume whose walls and steep peaked roof culminate in a central skylight turret that illuminates the light coloured spruce interior. Between the outer walls and the presbytery sector lie the access, connection and services areas: the narthex, deambulatory, vestry and storeroom. The structural beam frame has been left exposed in the deambulatory and central hall.

Francesco Pagliari

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