Denizen Works has completed a decidedly non-traditional church in east London, converting a canal boat into a floating place of worship.

Genesis Floating Church welcomes locals for prayer but can also be adapted into a community centre. Its camper van-style accordion roof – apparently inspired by historic wood prints of organ bellows – can open up to create more space as needed.

Murray Kerr, director of Denizen Works, told Wallpaper* that the studio’s approach was ‘to create a gallery space, free from religious symbolism, so that it would be welcoming to all, to align with the wider community uses planned for the boat’.

Inside the church’s minty green exterior is a galley hall that can accommodate up to 60 people, with worshippers seated beneath an oculus. Light also streams in from the smaller windows on either side, with zig-zag coverings casting patterned shadows across the room.

A kitchen is located at one end of the barge, while plywood furniture can be rearranged to make the space flexible. Genesis will remain moored in Hackney Wick for several years before moving on.

[Via Wallpaper*]

A tiny tropical greenhouse has sprung up in London’s Stratford