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)