The church in the town of Borgloon in the Belgian province of Limburg amazes with its exterior. From one angle, it is an ordinary massive Catholic church with a pointed dome, but if you look from the other side, the church instantly transforms - it becomes a light, almost transparent structure that merges with the surrounding rural landscape.
This amazing aerial structure is a project by studio Gijs Van Vaerenbergh, a tandem of young Belgian architects Peterjan Gijs and Arnout Van Vaerenberg, presented to the public under the slogan “Reading Between the Lines”. The church was built in 2011.
Standard divine services are not held here, the art object serves rather an educational purpose: to draw attention to modern architecture and the inextricable link between tradition and innovation. Adhering to this principle, the architects took the classical form of local churches as a basis and filled it with new meaning.
The 10-meter structure, set on a reinforced concrete foundation, consists of two thousand steel elements and steel plates, stacked in 100 layers. Each plate is just 1.5 centimeters thick. Moreover, the total weight of the structure is 30 tons. Between the plates, planes are formed, due to which the effect of airiness and weightlessness is created.
The transparent walls of the church do not interfere with admiring the landscape, and the appearance of the building changes depending on the time of day, lighting, play of light and shadow, and other external factors.
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The transparent church is not difficult to reach, but it can only be reached on foot or by bike, following the footpath between the Sint-Truidersteenweg and Romeinse Kassei (Roman road).