Calvinist Chuirch, Iris Estate, Kolozsvár

The entirely new Calvinist church is located near one of Kolozsvár’s industrial districts. Standing on a rise above the road, the church dominates its surroundings with its steep, tent-like roof. Buttresses and narrow slit windows articulate the exterior walls, from which the gabled front of the main entrance projects. Inside, the whitewashed walls are counterpointed only by the puritan window openings, and the interior is entirely dominated by the impressive weight of the roof structure, which also shapes the spatial ceiling. Massive beams support a net-like structure, which was probably intended to carry the painted coffered panels characteristic of Calvinist churches, although this cannot be proven. The interior certainly lacks the refined details that appear in the contemporaneous design for Körtvélyfaja, yet in its simplicity and constructivism the ceiling conveys a convincing monumentality and raw power.