St.-Lukas-Kirche

St.-Lukas-Kirche is an Evangelical church in the Grolland area of Bremen's Huchting district, built in 1963. The architects were Carsten Schröck from Bremen and Frei Otto, a pioneer of lightweight construction. Step inside and you see a round church: cable nets carry wooden slats that form the ceiling and the side walls.

The lightness has a practical reason: the marshy ground could not support a heavier building. Two wooden arches on concrete foundations hold the nets, and the facade elements hang vertically from the roof. The builders found the roof's final shape with a model and thread that simulated the grid mesh of the later lattice. The design borrows its logic from aircraft construction. The method anticipated the Multihalle in Mannheim, where grid shells from long slats had their first global application over a decade later.

The congregation became independent in 1954, splitting from Kirchhuchting's Evangelical community as membership swelled between the 1930s and the 1950s. Today it cooperates with the Dietrich-Bonhoeffer and St. Georg communities on shared priorities. Its programme reaches from music and youth work to environmental initiatives, and the building is wheelchair accessible. Since 1994 it has been a protected monument, recognised for its architectural style and its construction method. Erhart Mitzlaff drew the windows you see inside. Themes run from creation to the New Testament, with a focus on Luke's Gospel and the Christmas story.