民族の文化を受け継ぐ 木製グリッドに包まれた教会

© Jom Sermphasit/Panoramic Studio, 2023

© Jom Sermphasit/Panoramic Studio, 2023

タイの中でももっとも辺境の地であるウムパーンに位置する〈聖ザビエル教会（St Xavier’s Oratory）〉は、タイとミャンマーの間で今なお続く紛争地帯に住むカレン族のために建てられた教会です。

タイを拠点に活動する建築家 パコ・ガルシア・モロ（Paco García Moro）が設計しました。

注目ポイント

• 世界最古の紛争地帯で栄えてきた民族のための礼拝の場
• 民族の特徴的な装飾モチーフを反映したグリッド
• 地域の古い民家から再生した木材を活かした木造建築

（以下、Paco García Moroから提供されたプレスキットのテキストの抄訳）

ウムパーンはタイで最も辺境の地であり、景色の良いが曲がりくねったルート1090号線を通らなければアクセスできない。

この地域はアクセスが困難なため、1980年代までタイの共産主義勢力の拠点として残っていた。この地域で最も有名な観光スポットであるティロスの滝は、比較的最近までタイ国民にすら知られていなかった。

© Jom Sermphasit/Panoramic Studio, 2023

© Jom Sermphasit/Panoramic Studio, 2023

ウムパーンは、いまだにどの国からも承認されていない反政府分離独立国家であるカレン民族同盟に隣接しており、この国はミャンマーに対して世界最長の武力紛争（60年間）を継続している。

この地域にはタイ軍の管理下にある難民キャンプがいくつかあり、〈聖ザビエル教会〉は紛争地域から数キロ離れたウムパーン川のほとりに建っている。

© Jom Sermphasit/Panoramic Studio, 2023

カレン族の装飾モチーフの現代的な再解釈

教会のレイアウトはカレン族の織物のモチーフから着想を得たものである。

タイとミャンマーの国境の山岳地帯で、世界最古の紛争のただ中にありながら、国をもたない民族として暮らしてきたカレン族の文化は、表現し、発展させるための狭い道を歩んできた。

© Jom Sermphasit/Panoramic Studio, 2023

織り手や大工が生み出す製品は、おそらく彼らの最も特徴的な創造物である。教会の床のレイアウトと構造グリッドは、織物と木材マットの両方に見られる織り目構造を基調とするカレン族の幾何学的なモチーフを再解釈することを目的としている。

また、カトリックの典礼儀式に由来する空間構成と融合した建物の有機的な形状は、聖フランシスコ・ザビエルがモルッカ諸島で難破し溺れかけた際、海に落とした十字架をカニが拾い近づいてきたという奇跡を想起させる。

© Jom Sermphasit/Panoramic Studio, 2023

© Jom Sermphasit/Panoramic Studio, 2023

地域の古材を活用して建築する地域に根ざした教会

建物の40%は、古い民家から回収したチーク材で建てられている。

これらの家屋は、1989年にタイにて発令された高級木材使用禁止令の前に建てられたものであり、この地域では今でも一般的であるが、住宅の所有者はその利便性からレンガやコンクリートの家に建て替えることを望むことが多い。

© Jom Sermphasit/Panoramic Studio, 2023

© Jom Sermphasit/Panoramic Studio, 2023

グリッド構造は、繊維で織り込まれた広場として構想されており、屋根はウムパーン川に向かって上昇し、中央軸に沿って祭壇への道を強調している。

祭壇の裏では来訪者を歓迎するために屋根が低く広がり、礼拝エリアへと導く。地元の慣習に従い、地域の人々が床に座ってミサを祝えるように構想されている。また、より正式な式典用に、地元の家族により再生木材でベンチが用意された。

© Paco García Moro, 2022

© Paco García Moro, 2022

© Paco García Moro, 2022

© Paco García Moro, 2022

© Paco García Moro, 2022

以下、Paco García Moroのリリース（英文）です。

Oratory of St Xavier in Umphang

Umphang is Thailand’s most remote district; it is accessible only by the scenic but tortuous Route 1090. The area is so difficult to reach that it remain as a stronghold of Thailand’s communist insurgence until the 1980’s. Its most notable touristic attraction, the Thi Lo Su Waterfalls, was ignored by the national public until relatively recently. Umphang borders the Karen Nationalist Union, a rebel secessionist state still unrecognized by any foreign country, that hosts world’s longest ongoing armed conflict (60 years) against Myanmar. The province is home to several refugee camps under the administration of the Thai military. The Oratory of St Francis Xavier stands in front of the Umphang River, a few kilometers away from the conflict area.

The temple’s layout was inspired by ethnic Karen textile motives, while the outer organic form blends with the spatial configuration originated by the rites of the Catholic liturgy. Its shape evokes a miracle attributed to St Francis Xavier: when on the verge of drowning in a shipwreck in the Moluccas, a crab approached him holding up a crucifix that the saint had previously lost in the sea. The structural grid, originally conceived as a square of interwoven fibers that rises towards the Umphang River, highlights the path to Communion along the central axis. Opposite the altar, the roof spreads lower in order to welcome visitors, leading them to the worship area. According to local customs, the temple was conceived in order to let the community celebrate mass while sitting on the floor. For more formal ceremonies, local families provided benches made of reclaimed wood.

Project Name: St Xavier’s Oratory
Office Name: Paco Garcia Moro
Office Website: pacogarciamoro.com
Contact email: pacogmoro@gmail.com

Opening: 17/12/2022
Gross Built Area (m²/ ft²): 210 m²
Project Location: Umphang, Thailand
Program / Use / Building Function: Catholic Church

Construction manager: Reynaldo Tardielly

Photographer: jom sermphasit
Website: https://panoramicstudio.myportfolio.com/
e-mail: panoramicstudio197@gmail.com

Contractor: Wanmai Srisuk
Carpenter: Reen Sulee
Engineer: Lophadol Suwan
Electricity: Preecha Laothanasan

Five Pillars of Sustainability.

Umphang is the most unaccessible district of Thailand, reachable only by the infamous route 1090. Any travel shortcut implies driving into the rebel Karen National Union as the state of Myanmar has no effective control over the borders along this region. The area holds several refugee camps under administration of the Thai Royal Army and a significant percentage of Christian population.

・Timber circular economy. Forty percent of the church was built in teakwood reclaimed from old vernacular houses. These dwellings are still common in the area and were usually erected before the 1989 Thailand ban on the use precious woods. Sadly but understandably, their owners often want to replace them by modern, more convenient brick and concrete houses. These demolished houses are usually priced ‘by the pillar’ since the number of pillars determine approximately the total amount of timber that is on sell. The rest of the building was made from community-managed plantations under supervision of the Thai Forestry Department.

・Traditional crafts as a living profession. The timber structure was built by an ethnic Karen carpenter, Master Sulee. Born in Myanmar, Master Sulee learned geometry and Karen woodwork techniques during his time in prison and, since then, he has become renowned in the area for having built many of the most remarkable vernacular houses around the Umphang Valley. Master Sulee addressed by himself several critical features, such as the structure of the central cross (11 m), which is also the master pillar of the house. Instead of making it in steel as originally conceived, he managed to make it entirely in timber.

・Passive acclimatization. The composite pillars, one of most distinctive findings of this design, allow the river breeze to flow across the building. The shape and location of the church, which rises over a river meander, maximize its exposure to the valley winds and create a pressure differential towards the mountain.

・Implantation on the landscape. St Xavier’s Oratory tops the meander in Umphang Valley’s river and the cross stands framed by the two existing trees in a veiled reference to the Crucifixion. The outer lattice is conceived as a natural extension of the vernacular structures around and it echoing the timber envelops that cover Karen vernacular homes. When seen from the entrance side, the pitch room and its rounded corners blend smoothly with the mountains at the background that lead to the border with Myanmar.

・Contemporary reinterpretation of Karen decorative motives. As a stateless people thriving in the frontier mountains between Thailand and Myanmar, engulfed in the world’s oldest ongoing military conflict, Karen culture have narrow paths where to manifest and flourish. Weavers and carpenters, both engendering relatively short-lived and movable products, are probably their most distinctive creations. The floor layout and the structural grid of the Oratory aimed to offer a reinterpretation of Karen geometric motives, which are usually based in the interlaced estructures of both fabrics and timber mats.

Paco García Moro 公式サイト
https://pacogarciamoro.com/index.php/oratory-of-st-xavier-in-umphang/