Sunray

Architecturally extremely demanding, the church’s building site is long and narrow. In the west, it is bordered by a high railway embankment, in the east by a road. The winner of the architectural contest, by unanimous decision, was a plan entitled “Sunray”, and the designer proved to be Juha Leiviskä.

A member of the Academy of Finland, architect Juha Leiviskä (b. 1936) won the prestigious Carlsberg Award in 1995. In 2003, he was given the German Henrik Steffens Award for his merits, among them his remarkable contribution as a reformer of traditional European architecture. Leiviskä is internationally renowned for his sacred buildings. Among his chief works are Myyrmäki Church, Puolivälikangas Church in Oulu, and Männistö Church in Kuopio.

Leiviskä says that when designing Myyrmäki Church, the ideal he had in mind was Neresheim Abbey Church in southern Germany. Designed by Balthasar Neumann, that late Baroque church was built in late 18th century. Leiviskä has also said, “To me, a building as such, ‘as a piece of architecture’ is nothing. Its real significance is revealed in counterpoint with its surroundings, with life and with light.”