Tricircle Pavilion - Off the Page into Reality

Leavenworth, Washington. Dave Muller, future resident of Gqunube Green and architect of the Tricircle Pavilion, has taken the concept of a tricircle church shared with him in an informal brief, and rendered a superb design which promises to serve Gqunube Green ecovillage well in a multitude of ways other than a church. It will, be a gathering place for the future residents to meet, so playing a role in the social formation of the ecovillage; a classroom for the Gqunube Green Learning Center's courses on aspects of sustainability so necessary for the ecovillage's, and the world's, collective future; a venue for an occasional wedding, one of which has already been planned by future residents for their daughter; and who knows what else this unusual building will witness. Perhaps it is fair to suggest that the Tricircle Pavilion will be at the heart of Gqunube Green's common life. I hope so. The building is meant to serve.

Yet any well designed hall, including the Tricircle Pavilion, could support the important functions listed above. But it is when "Tricircle Pavilion" becomes "Tricircle Church" that my heart quickens with the hope the battle for sustainability, at Gqunube Green and everywhere, might yet be won. The three overlapping circles speak of an understanding of God in which God's Son empties himself as a suffering servant for the good (redemption) of the world. And miracles happen when people respond with Christlike humility to serve in the cause of truth. Witness the lives of the four South African Nobel Peace Prize winners whose statues stand witness at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town - Chief Albert Luthuli, Presidents Nelson Mandela and F.W. DeKlerk, and Bishop Desmond Tutu. Their sacrificial service helped rescue a nation by leading it in a different direction!

The world of the twenty first century faces a "final battle" of sorts. Victory - over the threat of environmental collapse promising devastating human consequences - can only be won as each global citizen learns to live sacrificially, like God's Son, for the good of the world. For that reason I find it thrilling that the Tricircle Pavilion design, depicting the iconic Christian fish, commends the earliest of creeds, "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour." [Ichthus (ΙΧΘΥΣ, in Greek) means fish and is an acronym for this creed]. For in commending the one who lived, and died, for the greater good, the architecture itself points each Gqunube Green resident towards that same Nobel-Peace-Prize-quality seen in Christ Jesus of a life of serving the greater good. In this sense, as church, perhaps the Tricircle Pavilion might yet nurture the same commitment among ecovillage residents, to adopt One-Planet-Lifestyles even if it requires sacrifice.

Perhaps then the Tricircle Pavilion will become the heart of Gqunube Green ecovillage, and in showing the servanthood of God's way, contribute to the saving of the world.