Architecture award winners use natural light to give a sense of the divine
(RNS) Annual religious architecture contest winners use natural light and materials to 'meet the needs of congregations.'
TORAH ARK
Studio Bondy Architecture; Torah Ark, Bema, and Screen; Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School; Palo Alto, California; Liturgical Furnishings; Photo by Ken Gutmaker
SOULS Travis Price Architects with The Catholic University of America; “The Procession of the Souls”; Swinford, County Mayo, Ireland; student work
ST. ADALBERT Filip Strzelecki; “The Chapel of St. Adalbert”; Fiszewo, Poland; student work
POP-UP Lucas Boyd and Chad Greenlee; “Pop-Up Places of Worship”; various locations; student work
CITY OF SPIRITS Rafaela Paes; “City of Spirits”; Recife, Brazil; student work
FAÇADE REHAB Eleftherios Piskitzis, Architect; Basilica de Nuestra Senora de la Merced Façade Rehab; Madrid; unbuilt work
SYNAGOGUE RECONSTRUCTION FXFowle; Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun Synagogue; New York; restoration; Photo by Chris Cooper
8 SHAPED PASSAGE Shoji Oshio + UA architects; 8-Shaped Passage; Ueno, Tokyo, Japan; sacred landscape; Photo by Masaru Niimi
ST. THOMAS MORE FONT Dekker / Perich / Sabatini; Baptismal Font; St. Thomas More Catholic Church; Oceanside, Calif.; liturgical furnishings; Photo by RMA Photography
GOOD SHEPHERD Robert Dolinar; Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Alojzij Šuštar Primary School; Ljubljana, Slovenia; new facilities; Photo by Luca Markez
CATHEDRAL KERICHO John McAslan + Partners; Sacred Heart Cathedral of Kericho; Kericho, Kenya; liturgical/interior design; Photo by Edmund Sumner
CHINMAYA MISSION Miró Rivera Architects; Chinmaya Mission Austin; Austin, Texas; new facilities; Photo by Paul Finkel / Piston Design
MARY AS PROPHET Margaret Adams Parker; “Mary As Prophet”; Virginia Theological Seminary; Alexandria, Va.; visual arts; Photo by B. Cayce Ramey
ST. PATRICK’S Murphy Burnham & Buttrick Architects; St. Patrick’s Cathedral; New York; restoration; Photo by Whitney Cox
ST. FRANCIS CHAPEL Stocker Hoesterey Montenegro Architects; St. Francis Chapel; Breckenridge, Texas; new facilities; Photo by Nicholas McWhirter
WARQA ibda design; Al Warqa’a Mosque; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; new facilities; Photo by Sadao Hotta
PIPE ORGAN Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, Ltd.; Pipe Organ; St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church; Carmel Valley, Calif.; liturgical furnishings; Photo by Sherman Chu
IGNATIUS John Ronan Architects; Chapel of St. Ignatius; Chicago; new facilities; Photo by Nathan Kirkman
PALM BEACH SYNAGOGUE Arthur Chabon Architect; Palm Beach Synagogue; Palm Beach, Fla.; liturgical/interior design; Photo by Kim Sargent
HOLLYWOOD TEMPLE Koning Eizenberg Architecture; Temple Israel of Hollywood; Los Angeles; adaptive reuse/repurpose; Photo by Eric Staudenmaier
JUMAA John McAslan + Partners; Jumaa Mosque; Doha, Qatar; new facilities; Photo by Hufton + Crow
JOYFUL CHURCH
The Beck Group; The Joyful Church; Pohang, South Korea; New Facilities; Photo by Seunghoon Yum
KNOCK Wejchert Architects; Knock Basilica Interior Design; Knock, County Mayo, Ireland; liturgical/interior design; Photo by Peter Moloney
ROSARY MYSTERIES Scott Parsons; “Mysteries of the Rosary”; Our Lady of Loreto; Foxfield, Colo.; visual arts; Photo by Steve Maylone
TORAH ARK Studio Bondy Architecture; Torah Ark, Bema, and Screen; Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School; Palo Alto, Calif.; liturgical furnishings; Photo by Ken Gutmaker
ST. CECILIA Donham & Sweeney Architects; St. Cecilia Church; Boston; renovation; Photo by Bruce T. Martin Photography
ST. THOMAS CATH Ranjit John Korah; Cathedral of St. Thomas; Cochin, Kerala, India; student work
TEMPLE ADATH Atkin Olshin Schade Architects; Temple Adath Israel; Merion Station, Pa.; liturgical/interior design; Photo by Tom Crane
TOTIHUE Gonzalo Mardones Arquitectos; Totihue Chapel; Totihue, Chile; new facilities; Photo by Nico Saieh
(RNS) Every year, the journal Faith and Form sponsors an International Awards Program for Religious Art & Architecture.
According to Editor-in-Chief Michael J. Crosbie, this year’s 28 winning projects “represent a wide range of work and the variety of responses to the continuously evolving ideas about how to create sacred environments, for every family of belief in the world.”
Nearly half of the projects were designed or created for sites outside of North America, and many employed creative uses of natural light, “making it part of the religious environment.
“While natural light has long been a way of conveying a sense of immanence in religious art and architecture, the jury noted that it also contributes to sustainability and helps to reduce energy costs,” Crosbie said in a statement.
He also noted that designers used natural materials and “simple, elegant materials to meet the needs of congregations.”
Take a visual tour of the contest’s winning spaces above.
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