Kreuzsaal | chair + bench

Authors’ Comment

Kreuzsaal or The Hall of Crosses of the Romanian Orthodox Ecclesiastical Center in Munich is a hypostyle hall located under the church of the ensemble. The hall has multiple uses - from liturgical space to a place for congregational dining, conferences, debates and community events. The chairs and benches have been designed to serve and adapt to all these uses of the space and its different valences.

Their design is conceived in relation to the architecture of the space and the raw materials that give the room its identity - bricks, exposed concrete, cast iron, heavy sheet metal, wood, canvas. The massiveness of the hall's construction elements is translated into the dark wooden furniture pieces that define the sides of the hall, becoming like a pedestal for the whole space from which the arched niches of exposed brick are born.

Made of solid oak, the furniture is composed of elements that are positioned in such a way that you can see how each piece unloads its forces on the other, without visible fastenings. At the same time, because of the distance between the structural elements and the lack of visual continuity between the backrest and the legs, they appear much more delicate and fragile to a close-up view. The lack of ornamentation, a characteristic of furniture in religious buildings, is compensated by the precious and subtle brass inlays in the handle area, which also serve to mark and protect the corner, while giving it a practical role - that of being able to hang and support various objects.

While the benches are placed in the central part of the hall and define the north and south sides, complimenting the architecture of the space, the chairs have been designed to be placed in the Altar/Chapel to the east. All the pieces are mobile and conceived to be placed in various positions within the hall, either on their own or complemented by other furniture (stackable chairs, tables etc.) depending on the type of events.