Pink Homage

Millennials have been categorised as the least religious generation to have ever existed. Here, religious organisations are turning to designers to strike a chord with the group and make faith an appealing experience, where church-goers might take a selfie or post a live Tweet.

Inuce Architecture recently reinvented an 80-year-old Christian church in Fuzhou, south-eastern China, finishing it in a signature Millennial pink with a new rooftop amphitheatre that offers open-air services (perfect for Insta-stories!). The new building is equipped for large congregations of 1500 and contains all sorts of focus spaces like music rehearsal rooms for the choir, offices, classrooms for the Sunday school, and general activity rooms.

“The new community centre was conceived to embody a change in the congregation’s self-perception and to communicate it to the urban audience and, hopefully, a new set of young believers,” says Dirk U Moench of Inuce. “The new generation’s desire is not only to preserve its heritage and to maintain the status quo, but to translate it into a form that reflects their new standing and showcases their potential for society as Christians today – visibly present and actively contributing.

“Visually, this energetic and youthful colour complements the well-aged gravity of the old church’s granite blocks and expresses the generational change in the congregation’s development,” he says.

To provide additional space for services and to give views across the city, two amphitheatres were created on the church’s two roofs. “When used, it is transformed into a stage of urban proportions, from which the community inevitably shares joy and faith with its ‘larger audience’ near and far, sitting in surrounding offices and hotels,” adds Moench.