Archinect - News

Philip Johnson-designed Interfaith Peace Chapel vandalized in Dallas

2017-01-09T21:13:00-05:00

Dallas police were at Cathedral of Hope [...] investigating graffiti painted onto the church’s Interfaith Peace Chapel. The building was vandalized at about 11 p.m. on Wednesday night, according to the Rev. Neil Cazares-Thomas, CoH’s lead pastor. [...] The spray-painted message included a Louisiana phone number and referred to a car as a “Brown Chivy Suburbin.” The name “Johntion Kimbrou” — possibly “Kimbrow” — was also painted on the church, along with a reference to “kitty porn.”

Image via Dallas Voice

One brick per Bible verse in Napp Studio's enormous, lightbulb-infused "Archive of Light"

2017-01-05T14:44:00-05:00

The imaginary realm of architecture frequently ventures off into scales that are improbable, if not outright impossible, on the politically and gravitationally constrained Earth (think Étienne-Louis Boullée, or Lebbeus Woods). In a similar if less secular vein, Napp Studio has conceived of an enormous, walkable brick wall that would feature every verse of the bible and/or other spiritual texts inscribed on titled, lightbulb-illuminated bricks. The idea here is to create the sensation of leafing through a book page by page, with each page being loosely represented by a brick.

As the architects note, "The bricks are books written with text of living stories of the everyday reality, yet, a reality with hope. Hope is the most significant spiritual grain we rely on when facing the sometime harsh life, it provides us with strength and will – the light to live on." The massive scale of the project does not place it beyond the realm of the possible, although there's no word yet of an officia...

2016 Faith & Form Religious Architecture Awards name Koning Eizenberg, John McAslan & Partners, John Ronan among winners

2016-12-14T17:43:00-05:00

Whether you frequently visit a religious space or not, there are plenty of projects out there that are worthy of praise in their own right, as seen in the 2016 Faith & Form/IFRAA Awards Program. Founded in 1978 and co-sponsored by Faith & Form Magazine and the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture (IFRAA), the annual competition scopes out the best in religious architecture, liturgical design, and art for religious spaces.

Open to all, from architects to clergy to students, the 2016 Faith & Form/IFRAA Awards concluded with 28 winning projects based worldwide. Categories included New Facilities, Restoration, Liturgical/Interior Design, Sacred Landscape, and more. Here are a few of the winners:

Sacred Landscape: Shoji Oshio + UA architects; 8-Shaped Passage; Ueno, Tokyo, Japan

Liturgical/Interior Design: John McAslan + Partners; Sacred Heart Cathedral of Kericho; Kericho, Kenya

Adaptive Reuse/Repurpose: Koning Eizenberg Architecture; Temple Israel of Hollywood; Los Angeles, California

Murphy Burnham & Buttrick Architects; St. Patrick’s Cathedral; New York, New York; Restoration

New Facilities: John McAslan + Partners; Jumaa Mosque; Doha, Qatar

Student Work: Rafaela Paes; “City of Spirits”; Recife, Brazil

cover image: New Facilities: John Ronan Architects; Chapel of St. Ignatius; Chicago, Illinois

Find the full list of winners on Bustler.

For more about religious architecture on Archinect:

LeRoy's Ark: LeRoy Tro...

Indian Hindu temple planned as world's tallest religious structure

2016-12-07T14:18:00-05:00

With its indoor theme park and helipad, this building might seem more like it would belong in Las Vegas, but this towering Hindu temple is set to become the world's tallest religious skyscraper. [...] At 700 feet (210 metres), the temple will be taller than India's Taj Mahal, which stands at 239 feet (73m) tall, as well as St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, which measures 422 feet (128.6m).

The illustration below shows the greater master plan for Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir. The project website has this description:

"The skyscraper temple-cum-heritage project, conceived of by the devotees of ISKCON-Bangalore, will consist of a grand temple of Lord Sri Krishna at its centre. The grand temple shall be of monumental proportions and its iconic architecture shall harmoniously combine elements of both Indian temple architecture and modern architecture. This temple is poised to become the tallest, grandest and largest religious structure in India. The temple has a footprint of about 5.5 acres and rises to a height of about 700 feet (213 metres or 70 floors). The temple is planned to be vibrant with festivals and religious activities throughout the year."

Vedic Cosmology is an integral part of the design concept. The project website explains:

"A capsule elevator takes visitors from the ground level to the 700 ft. tall viewing Gallery giving an immersive 3D sound and light experi...

The cultural paradox of the Great Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba

2016-12-06T12:21:00-05:00

The mosque-cathedral of Córdoba in southern Spain is one of the great Rorschach tests of medieval architecture. Like the ink blots that psychologists use to divine unconscious thoughts, we tend to see in the building what we please. For some, it embodies the artistic creativity and religious tolerance of the Muslim period. For others, it is a symbol of the conquests and bloodshed that have washed over this region throughout the centuries.

Whichever message we choose, the mosque is surely one of the most beautiful and controversial monuments in Europe today.

More religious architecture:

Open Call for Submissions: 'Faith'

2016-11-17T14:50:00-05:00

Religion and spirituality have always been a huge driver of architectural history, its institutions being some of the clearest realizations of ideology through structure, and belief through design. Architecture practice in itself, operating over years and through dense bureaucracies, also requires its practitioners to have faith—in themselves, the market, and their clients. So as the winter holiday season rolls around, we’re asking architects to consider the role faith, and its institutions, play in their practice.

Our open call for 'Faith' is interested in both places of worship, and the ‘commandments’ that make for good rules of practice.

》PROJECT SUBMISSIONS: House of Worship

Design a structure for worshiping anything you feel demands it. Whether a new Presbyterian Church for your suburb, a Mosque for Mars, a glass orb for feminism, a bunker for the Patron Saint of Climate Change, we want to see your imaginations for a new kind of spiritual architecture.

There is no set budget or re...