Zigerland Highway Chapel: An Unusual Structure Beside One of Germany's Highways (+Photos)

The Zigerland highway chapel, built beside Germany's A45 highway near the town of Wilsdorf, features a white facade and two pointed towers. The project was developed to address the lack of roadside churches along the heavily traveled Sauerland Line route, which previously had no such facility.

Safir Arjan - Ziegerland Autobahn Church, next to the A45 highway, near Wilsdorf in Germany, appears as a white icon with two pointed towers in the view of the highway. With its simple and distinctive form, this building presents an image of contemporary architecture next to one of the busiest roads in the region.

The formation of the idea of building a cross-roads church

Before this church was built, the closest cross-road churches to the A45 highway were located near Münster and Wiesbaden; Places that were far from the busy Zaverland Line in the Zigerland region.

Hanliese Hering and Hartmut Hering noticed this deficiency after visiting a cross-roads church in southern Germany and began to pursue the construction of a similar building. Later, an association named "Forderfrain" was formed with the specific purpose of holding an architectural competition.

In March 2009, Schneider and Schumacher architecture office won the Zigerland autobahn church design competition. The result of this process was a building with a white icon and two pointed towers, which was placed next to the A45 highway and became an architectural landmark on this route.

This project is an example of the formation of an architectural plan in response to a specific need in road infrastructure; A need that led to holding a competition and selecting a design with the initiative of a couple and the follow-up of a local association.