OOIIO Architecture's vision for a new church for the village of Valer in Norway is one that acts as restorative project for a community whose last chapel met a bitter demise. A few years ago the inhabitants of Valer, a small and quiet Norwegian village just outside Oslo, suffered a great community loss when their ancient wooden church completely burned down. At the end of 2011, they decided to invite architects from all over the world to design a new temple so signify a new beginning for the religious community in town.

OOIIO have designed a different and new typology of building for Valer, as they looked to solve two community problems at with one building. Not only is there a need for a replacement church, there currently does not exist a representative public space. With this design OOIIO have presented a church whose main façade, the roof, acts as this area.

The sloped, curved roof of the building exists as a raised plaza from which its users can discover new views of the city centre as well as use the area as a meeting place or even pleasant surroundings in which to take a walk. The church interior is open to the surroundings, allowing it to be filled with natural light and the building is made almost entirely of wood both in keeping with local construction traditions and utilising the local industries.