Deviating wildly from traditional church design, this house of worship in Cebu City, Philippines forgoes cathedral ceilings and a steeple in favor of 100 maze-like walls that jut out at different heights—creating what looks like a folded-up, papery facade. Called the 100 Walls Church, the building was constructed by NYC-based architects CAZA, and is meant to "represent the enigmatic nature of religion," through its "ambiguous form."
Inside, walls of all different sizes form narrow hallways, multiple entrances into the nave, and pockets of space for sunken gardens and trees. Perhaps most stunning, though, is the church at night, when bolts of light peek through and create curious, shadowy patterns on the surrounding landscape. "We imagined it might be something mysterious," explain the architects of their creation, "perhaps even as odd as the early gothic churches that resisted iconography, presenting their parishioners with an architectural image of a dense mass of buttresses, ribs, vaults and spires." Dezeen has the full gallery, plus floor plans, right this way.
· CAZA's 100 Walls Church is surrounded by staggered walls [Dezeen]