Lauritsala Church, Lutheran church in Lauritsala district, Lappeenranta, Finland.
Lauritsala Church is a Lutheran place of worship featuring a triangular floor plan constructed with concrete ceilings built using slip-form techniques and tall windows. A 47-meter tower rises prominently, and the interior benefits from a glass-covered roof section that filters natural light throughout the space.
The church was built following a 1957 design competition won by architects Toivo Korhonen and Jaakko Laapotti with their entry called Taivaan valo. Construction was completed in 1969, bringing this modernist structure to the Lauritsala neighborhood.
The church serves as a central gathering place for the Lutheran community, hosting regular services and parish activities that shape life in the neighborhood. Visitors can experience how the space functions as a spiritual and social hub for residents.
The building is located at Kauppalankatu 4 and can accommodate around 670 visitors at a time. An attached parish center provides space for various community events and gatherings throughout the year.
The large glass-covered roof section is not just a design feature but represents an architectural choice to combine raw concrete with transparency and openness in a religious setting. Few churches from this period dared to experiment with such bold contrasts between heaviness and lightness.
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