ST. STEPHANUS | CHAPEL NORTH ANKLE
CHURCH IN UPPER AUSTRIA
In 2012, the western area of the southern aisle was transformed into a memorial for the deceased from the parish and stillborn children according to a concept by the design studio Lucy.D.
The baptismal font, which bears the year 1288, was moved to the northern aisle. Around ten years later, in 2021, Lucy.D was commissioned to redesign this area as a baptistery and place of confession.
Placing church rituals and the Catholic sacraments in a contemporary, open context is the goal for the interior design planning of LUCY.D.
The center of the baptistery is the baptismal font made of Adnet marble with the bronze lid (Peter Dimmel, 1969). It defines the spatial center around which three new benches made of limed oak are positioned. They offer equal space for devotion towards the place of confession, towards the newly hung Crucifixion group on the west wall of the aisle and towards the north wall.
For the redesign, the bench block erected in 1969 was removed, the existing place of confession was moved from the north wall to the east wall and redesigned, and the crucifixion group was moved from the east wall to the west wall. The design includes redesigning the objects for the sacrament of baptism, a place for the three holy oils and the place of pronunciation for the sacrament of confession. Another task is to subtly integrate the new objects into the overall ensemble of the church. The spatial arrangement follows the clear structure of the aisle and thus emphasizes the visual axes in and out of the aisle. The new furnishing elements made of whitewashed oak refer to the church pews from 1969 and continue the design concept in terms of material and surface effect of the memorial site.