Architect of Estonian church draws closer to faith

One of the two architects who drew up the plans for the United Methodist Baltic Mission Center in the Estonian capital Tallinn says his involvement in designing the church has brought him closer to faith.

"Designing the church helped me be religious," Vilen Kunnapu, of the partnership Kunnapu and Padrik, told United Methodist News Service in an interview in his design studio in Tallinn.  "I have not always been religious.  It has happened during the last five to seven years.  It is a step by step process and it's continuing.

"I'm a Christian, but do not belong to any community at the moment. Maybe in one year I will be a member of that community," he said, referring to the Methodist congregation that meets in the Mission Center.  "Who knows?"

Did his new-found appreciation of faith help him design the worship building for the Methodist community?  &If anything, it was the other way round."

Explaining the ideas behind his design, Kunnapu demonstrated his commitment to a building that enhances worship.  "The building comes from inside out," he affirmed.  Rummaging for some paper amid the mounds of plans that cover his desk he explained:  "When you go in, it is like a pilgrimage; you start from the ground and go up a long ramp to reach the sanctuary.  It is not like an office building.  The Mission Center has many functions, but the main part of it is the sanctuary.  There are many other elements, though, including a school, a library, a restaurant, a music studio, a music shop and a bookshop."

With quick pencil lines, he sketched out his ideas.  "The sanctuary is a bit like the Pantheon -- there is a big hole in the ceiling where the light comes in.  When you look up, you can see the cross on the spire.  In the church school, the roof is glass and the cross is also visible from there."

Kunnapu had little experience of church architecture when he began work on the Mission Center.  "This is the first church we worked on, although we have done a few plans for competitions.  We even won a second prize for one, a Lutheran church in the Estonian countryside."

But although Soviet-era restrictions on building new churches were lifted a decade ago, few new churches have gone up in Estonia.  "This is the first main church to be built in Tallinn since independence in 1991," Kunnapu declared.

Tallinn itself has many old churches in its historic city center -- perhaps too many within a short walking distance of each other -- but farther out, they are few and far between.  The Baltic Mission Center is a little distance from the old city on the main road to the eastern town of Narva.

Kunnapu believes his design is special.  "It is unusual to have such a monumental church building.  Elsewhere in the world, churches are like boxes, they are functional.  We wanted to express something more."

Kunnapu was impressed by the commitment to his design shown by the Methodist superintendent in Estonia, Olav Parnamets.

"He liked our company, that's why they chose us," the architect said.  "He and his colleagues gave us great freedom. He ... quickly understood our ideas. We liked him too. When we were doing the design, he came several times, and each time the atmosphere lightened here in the studio when he arrived. It was a pleasure to cooperate with him."

Parnamets brought in architects from the United States and Scandinavia to look over the plans once they were drawn up.  Far from bothering him, Kunnapu welcomed this collaboration with "interesting people."  "Our design was unusual, brave.  American expertise convinced me it was possible."

Kunnapu and his colleague, Ain Padrik, began work on the project in 1994, but Kunnapu is not too concerned that the Mission Center has still not been finished.

"A church is a church," he said.  "The money comes from people all around the world. You can't complete a building like this in a year.  It takes time.  The building must remain interesting for 100 years -- you mustn't just follow fashion.  It has to be a building that will stand the test of time."

Throughout the project, the costs have risen.  "The projected budget when we started was some $1.5 million," Kunnapu said.  "Now the figure is about three times that."

The construction has had to take into account the funds that have been available.  The building company that began the work went bankrupt last year.

"It was not the best year for building companies in Estonia," Kunnapu said ruefully.  However, the company had completed most of the building, and the Methodists are now employing small contractors to finish the work as and when finance is available  "For half a year, the church had quite a problem with money."

The Mission Center project was launched with a $1 million gift from the Kwang Lim Methodist Church of Seoul, South Korea.  The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries and the United Methodist Church have contributed generously.  The U.S.-based Friends of Estonia group also has been instrumental in raising support for the project.

Although the work is not yet completed, a visit to the Mission Center shows that the building is already humming with life.  Hundreds of people crammed into the meeting hall in mid-January for a joint Christian prayer service, and regular worship services for the community already take place there.

The main work that remains involves the completion of the sanctuary.  Inside, it is still a concrete shell, with scaffolding reaching up to the ceiling and workers toiling away in distant corners.

Visually, the Mission Center provides welcome relief from the square blocks along the Narva highway.  The long, rounded shape rising to the cross-topped spire is reminiscent of a ship.

Behind the church, though, stands a busy gas station, marring the splendor of the new building.  Kunnapu is unfazed.  "It's the city," he said.

*   Corley is a free-lance writer based in England.