Virginia Conference on Sacred Space

The Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architect’s Interfaith Forum on Religion Art and Architecture will be offering a day-long conference called The Nature of Sacred Space: Context and Culture on November 6, 2009 in Richmond.  It’s part of the larger VSAIA annual meeting that concludes on the same day.  This is the second such opportunity organized by the group in as many years.

The program features a first-rate list of speakers: Paul Braoudokis (Willow Creek), Mel McGowan, AIA (Visioneering Studios), Mark Torgerson (Notre Dame), James Williamson, FAIA (Askew Nixon Ferguson) and Tom Findley, FAIA (Leo A. Daly Architects).  They will presumably duke it out over what the press release refers to as the “diametrically opposed” traditions of traditional architecture “that promote and inspire liturgical based worship” and “market driven designs” stripped (”in some cases”) of “any element that would distinguish them as a “place of worship.”

They go on to take this either/or approach, and will apparently focus on the differences between “performance type and spiritual type worship environments.”   It seems poised to take on the same flavor as other aspects of the worship wars, where personal and cultural preferences are given theological weight by their subscribers and the opposition is demonized, however graciously.  I hope not.

It’s too easy to chase caricatures, but given their fine work in the first such conference, Virginia’s IFRAA can be counted on to do it well, and offer some valuable discussion.

Download the IFRAA Press Release and a detailed Schedule (PDF)

Religious Architecture on ArchDaily

ArchDaily, a site that provides the “latest architectural news: projects, products, events, interviews and competitions” has republished images of newly completed religious architecture.  Projects featured in Part 1 are a monastery on Tautra island in Trondheimsfjorden (Norway), the city morgue in León, Spain; The Church of the Holy Cross in Jyllinge, Denmark; a temporary chapel for the Deaconesses of St-Loup (France), and the Prayer Pavilion of Light in Phoenix, Arizona.  My favorite, due in part to its elegant simplicity, is the Phoenix project, but the morgue is pretty powerful, too. Take a look.

New Buildings in Traditional Settings

What’s the proper architecture for a traditional campus or aesthetic?  There’s no clearcut answer, but the design your architect proposes for your next building will probably fall into one of just a few categories, any one of which may be appropriate for your organization.  Although, I’ve no doubt that architectural philosophers have outlined these options in excruciating detail, I recently found myself explaining them to a client in literary terms.

Quotation
Reproduce what you already have.  It’s unlikely that an existing building can, or should, be copied as is, but reusing the scale, materials and details is the most direct way to continue a satisfactory theme.  For leaders, this approach carries the least risk and will often have the broadest public support.  Detractors would call this plagiarism.

Allusion
Incorporate the best or most meaningful or most iconic elements of existing buildings into something new.  Referring to history without copying it requires a sharp eye and deft hand.  Done well, a new structure takes on a sense of place and “fit”; done poorly, a cheap imitation of the real thing.  Some would consider this a better description of “quotation” than the one I used above.

Contrast
Challenge what you find with something new.  Communicate clearly that a new day has dawned or that something unique is happening inside.  Such an approach need not be iconoclastic, it may simply use a different language to draw attention to itself or an important idea.  Some ask why this is necessary.  As one skeptical speaker put it, “everyone knows what a house looks like, but architects act like they’ve never seen one.”

In practice, most buildings fall into the middle category, sliding along the spectrum between new and old.

Lifeway Survey Skips Data

In another odd piece of research, LifeWay asked about 1,000 Protestant pastors whether, in their opinion, adding a worship service or expanding a building had positively affected attendance.  Many did, but it’s not apparent that any measures were taken to verify the numbers independently.   That’s like asking someone who just spent $300 on a gym membership if he’s lost weight – without putting him on the scales.

Respondents were asked to consider seven types of expansion: building new or additional ministry space on their present site (27% of those surveyed had done so) building at a new site (4%), adding services on or off site (28% and 10%), going online with streaming worship or teaching (14%), launching a new church (28%) or merging with another church (3%).

Researchers admit that pastors in churches that have implemented a particular type of expansion were “more likely to strongly agree that it leads to growth.”

Balcony Stairs

It’s a practice that’s at least 200 years old, but I don’t know if it really works.  Like many church practices, it may exist simply because it makes us feel better to know they’re there.  Balconies (or rather, galleries, existed in churches long before they were used for public seating.  Even so, I suspect it’s a relatively recent idea to place the stairs that serve them inside the nave, or main room, for the purpose of making it possible for persons seated there to respond to altar calls.

I don’t have any real objection to an open stair that decends directly to the main floor or altar platform, but these “Baptist balconies” (my term) bring to mind 18th Century evangelist Charles Finney’s “anxious bench,” a place down in the front where those considering becoming Christians could come to receive prayer.

Who uses them when a better means exists?  The common argument for including them is that they offer fewer obstacles for those in the balcony who wish to come forward.  My sense, though, is that balconies often provide a safe haven for those who aren’t sure they want to be noticed, either because they’re late or new or whatever.  They allow some to stick their toe in the water before they dive.  If that’s the case, who would wish to expose themselves to even greater view by hiking down what is usually a prominent structure.  Go ahead; I dare you!

This is not to say that there aren’t other reasons to consider a Baptist balcony.  First Baptist Church in Greenville, SC has a sweeping, assymetrical balcony that joins the balcony to the main floor with seating (and forms the ceiling of a chapel below).  Provisions in the International Building Code, most likely because of the popularity of open stairs in churches, allow them to escape demanding requirements that other stairs face.

Know why you build what you build, including stairs.  As they’re typically configured, balcony stairs set in the worship space occupy valuable floor space.  They steal seats, limit flexibility and complicate sightlines.  I also suspect that the cost of complex or decorative railings they require (or tempt you) to build exceeds the cost of enclosing simpler ones.

Flickering Pixels: The Skin We’re In

It’s startling to some to realize that the largest human organ is not the brain or heart or lungs.  They’re the sexy starlets that get the most media attention, but these gadgets pale in comparison to the skin, the quiet character actor.  And though most of the glory goes to the media systems that animate modern worship and communications, its easy to forget that the buildings in which they reside are a powerful medium in their own right.   It was with this in mind that I read Shane Hipps’ Flickering Pixels.

At the heart of Flickering Pixels is Marshall McLuhan’s now-familiar observation that “the medium is the message” in Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man.  A “medium,” for McLuhan, is anything that amplifies or accelerates existing processes, introduces a change of scale or pace or shape or pattern into “human association, affairs, and action” – buildings included.  While Hipps is focused on other technologies, it’s easy enough to draw a couple of implications for buildings.  Here are a few:

Unambiguity
uildings, like print, or other finite media, tend to distill the message they convey into a more concrete and less nuanced versions of the original.  I’ve written here before (The Unambiguity of Bricks, February 2007) )about the risk this creates for leaders of new churches.  Geometry, in the built world, doesn’t leave much room to negotiate.  In response, some architects look for ways to “de-materialize” structures or objects, designing them in a way that makes their edges, and even their presence, less certain.

Process orientation
It’s a rare church leader that doesn’t talk about community.  Rarer still is the building that contributes to the health of one.  Most structures used by churches serve best as symbols and shelters, rather than as nurturing environments.  That’s a tall order for any designer, but most church buildings focus on delivering people efficiently from activity to activity or place to place (even if its a Third Place), a linear process increasingly out of sync with contemporary culture.

Impact on Message
Architecture, more often than other media, is used intentionally to reinforce the message it conveys.  Hipps points to God’s use of media – the burning bush and the stone tablets – and wonders if the Ten Commandments might have been received differently if they’d been written by a skywriter on a breezy day.  Building designers routinely use rhythm and mass to emphasize or even exaggerate the presence or absence of purpose and power.

Any more parallels or applications come to mind?

Churches Finding Homes in Empty Stores

The tough economy may have shuttered some retail stores, but the vacant spaces aren’t necessarily sitting empty: some are becoming new locations for worship.

In a story for Religion News Service, writer Adelle M. Banks describes the opportunities a tough economy has created for some churches.Here’s more:

Experts say it’s a potential win-win situation for both churches that want to have a location they can use every day—rather than once-a-week arrangements at schools or hotels—and property owners having trouble finding new tenants, not to mention shoppers.

“This has been an opportunity for churches to seize upon, with the drop in commercial real estate prices and eagerness for commercial real estate owners to get anybody, somebody, to occupy their facilities,” said Jim Tomberlin, senior strategist with Third Quarter Consulting.  His Scottsdale, Ariz., firm recommends churches that are seeking additional sites for sanctuaries consider what commercial real estate is available for purchase or rental.  ”[Doing so can] prevent the church from having to pay for land and build on it.

Some churches are opting for renting rather than purchasing retail space.

At Prime Outlets in Florida City, Fla., general manager Al Dos Santos has a similar philosophy. The mall south of Miami signed a new two-year lease with Torre Fuerte Homestead Church in April when the church moved from one location in the mall to another that can better accommodate its growth.

“For the church, it provides them with adequate space within the shopping center setting, which gives them convenience,” he said. “For us, it’s just occupying space that otherwise would be sitting empty.”

Pastor Jose Santiago of Torre Fuerte, which means “Strong Tower,” said the church occupies a total of 6,000 square feet, including a former home decor store, for a sanctuary that will seat up to 300, and an additional once-vacant space for children’s ministries.

A word of caution
Church activities won’t automatically work in any big space.  Building codes regard activities where large groups assemble as a particularly dangerous scenario – think night clubs – and are stricter for such uses than for office or retail activity.  The building you occupy may not be equipped with enough exits, an appropriate sprinkler system, or the right number of toilets for its new role.   Such deficiencies can usually be addressed, but not without significant outlay of time and money.  It may still be cheaper than building new, but make sure you’ve counted all the costs.

On the Radio: Calling for Truth

I was honored to be invited by Jay Younts to be a guest on a Calling for Truth, a program hosted by Dr. Paul Dean on WLFJ’s AM 660 Christian Talk Radio.  I expected to discuss how we work with churches and was humbled when the conversation turned to the role of a Christian designer.  Jay (properly, John) is an elder at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Moore, SC and a well-regarded writer and speaker on Biblical child rearing.  Dr. Dean is pastor of Providence Baptist Church in Greer, SC and hosts Calling for Truth at 1:00 pm three days a week.  Here’s a link to the archived broadcast from May 18, 2009. Let me know what you think.

Planning for Funerals: Kiss the Corpse

In preparation for an assignment with a denomination that was new to us, we attended a funeral.  Memorial services place some very specific demands on the spaces in which they’re held, and the only way to understand them well is to go to one.  Everything we saw was pretty conventional, up until the minute people stood up and headed to the front where, one by one, they venerated the deceased.  ”Venerated,” is a two-dollar word for “kiss.”  When everyone else on our row turned left to walk up the center aisle, my coworker and I turned right and headed home.

As obvious as the need to plan for funerals would seem to be, it’s not unusual for the issue to escape discussion.  (The same goes for weddings.)  It’s a particular trap for young churches focused on engaging the living and celebratory worship.  Here are some questions to ask:

1. How big is your casket? According to a number of online sources, caskets (with a side bulge, rather than coffins, which are tapered or rectangular)  have changed little in the last two centuries.  Most are 84 inches long, 28 inches wide, and 23 inches tall.   As  Americans have gotten bigger, casket manufacturers are considering increasing the standard sizes.  In the meantime, oversize caskets, up to 52 inches wide, are available.  That’s wider than one of the leaves on a typical entrance.  Even a standard width casket can present challenges to passage when its being carried by pallbearers.
2. How will it get there? Turning corners is no mean trick in narrow hallways.  Much less in elevators.  Does the path require going up or down stairs?  Forget it.  Test the route while you’re still in the planning stages and give yourself extra room to make the turns.
3. Where will you stop and start? In the moments between the car and the door, and the hallway and the platform, the casket, whether on wheels or being carried, must park.  We’ve seen situations in older churches where the hardest part of the journey was stopping to wait for the scheduled entrance or to reposition the pallbearerers to go up or down stairs.
4. Is there an expert who can help? When working with a church that’s been around for a while, we’ve asked them which funeral home they work with most and asked the mortician to take a look at our plans.  They are usually in touch with current practices and can offer good advice.

Wedding Season

This time of year, the local paper is filling up with photos of exuberant brides and the stories of their weddings.  We’re close to the start of Wedding Season, the period between Memorial Day and Labor day when most weddings are held.  The event can be a test of bride-groom, mother-daughter and every other relationship.  For churches, it’s a test of their facilities.   How does yours measure up?

Although “regular” practices should guide most decisions about planning a space for worship, weddings and funerals are often more demanding.  Ironically, “regular” practices are subject to greater variation than these special occasions.  Here are some wedding questions to ask (more about funerals later):

1. Where will the wedding party prepare for the ceremony? At one time, people got dressed at home and arrived at the church building “in costume.”  That’s rare today, even for the groomsmen.  Some churches dedicate a “bride’s room”.  We’ve sometimes combined that with a “cry room” where parents can take unhappy little ones. Alternately we’ve located a meeting room or classroom next to a ladies’ restroom, with which it can share a door like those between adjacent hotel rooms.
2. Have you seen the size of that gown? Remember that wedding gowns can require that a bride set up a special ops team for everything from turning corners to going to the bathroom.  Whether you dedicate a room or not, avoid tight spaces.  A wet dress is never pretty.
3. What is the path from the changing room to the worship space? Can the bride pass from one to the other without going through main public spaces?  Traditionally, of course, the bride is hidden away, at least from the groom, until she appears at the end of the aisle.  I’ve seen some churches resort to elaborate temporary screen systems to make this work.
4. Where will the groom hang out before the ceremony? Is there an anteroom, office, or hallway off the beaten path available to the husband- and spiritual-leader-to-be?
5. How will the procession work? The center aisle is a characteristic feature in formal church buildings.  Even in informal settings, wedding planners instinctly set up center aisles.  Baptists and others with similar values have long eliminated the center aisle in a symbolic blow against liturgical imagery and practice.  Whatever your practice, have a plan for moving people in and out of the room.
6. What about the platform? Whether you have a sanctuary, chancel, dais, or other raised area in your worship space or not, there will be a “center” of worship.  How many people will it hold?  How easy is it for people of differing abilities to move on and off the platform?  Some churches justify out-of-the-way ramps because of the rarity of their use, but they’re tough to explain to the bride and groom who can’t approach the altar.
7. Colors? A classic debate is the one that takes place over carpet color.  Usually it’s about whether red or blue is more traditional. Think this is beside the point?  I’ve also heard one about how hard it is to match pink dresses to a particular color.  Consider strictly traditional colors (with which brides have been contending for generations), neutrals, or greens.