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The Mater Dolorosa church in Langenau, a small town near Ulm, was

recently revamped using a design by the Elmar Weber practice.

Built in 1967, the building already has a modern feel, with towering,

asymmetrical lines and sharp angles. The building rises towards heaven,

using combinations of sharp corners, soaring inclinations and unusual

placements.

The work required was both internal and external, structural and

aesthetic, such that when the old roof covering was removed, it created

an opportunity to give the church an attractive, elegant makeover.

The steeply pitched original roof, extending for over 2,000 sq m was

replaced, removing the old fiber cement slabs and installing PREFA

aluminum shingles (420x240 mm), in anthracite grey, using 10 PREFA clips

per square meter to fix them to the supporting frame. The result was a

merger of performance and aesthetics, providing a solution that could

resist the elements but exalt the shapes in a visual merger of angular

surfaces.

Finally, the use of technology to absorb FD.TEC frequencies ensures the

cladding improves the acoustics, removing unwanted frequencies and

making the bell, housed in the wooden bell-tower, lose its reverberating

sound and call the faithful to mass with a clear, albeit distant, reminder.

MATER DOLOROSA CHURCH

SHAPE AND PERFORMANCE Langenau, Germany ELMAR WEBER