2019 Southern Architecture Awards Winner
Intercultural Church Invercargill (formerly Georgetown Baptist Church) 1967
In the design of what was formerly Georgetown Baptist Church, Lewis Simpson eschewed traditional church forms and imagery in favour of a rigorous, modernist design articulated with precast concrete and glass. Verging on stern and spare, the exterior belies the warm and calm repose of the interior, where a simple and cellular main worship area with minimal decoration is ready to be bought alive by minister and congregation. The church is rich with architectural ambiguities – heavy concrete roof beams seemingly hover in defiance of gravity over thin slot windows; there is a well-composed layering of solid and screening elements that provide depth and bring focus to the baptistery; ashlar-rimu wall panelling creates rich, warm solidity between discrete slots of light that punctuate the interior with jewels of colour. The originality and superb condition of the interior demonstrates the love and care the community has for the building – a relationship that is likely to endure for several more generations to come.
