Construction Update: Monastery at Ronchamp

Very exciting news from Notre-Dame du Haut de Ronchamp from the French construction website Le Moniteur. Construction on the monastery to house the nuns of the association of Sainte-Collette at the site of Le Corbusier's Notre-Dame du Haut is well underway and in fact speeding up. The article includes many site photos.

The tower and roof of the chapel is just visible in the photo below. None of the new construction will be visible from the chapel.

The story so far in brief, in case you haven't heard about it. The chapel of Notre-Dame du Haut at Ronchamp is generally considered one of the great masterworks of 20th century architecture. It was commissioned by Father Marie-Alain Couturier as part of his belief that the church should employ the greatest artists and architects of the time, regardless of their particular religious beliefs or associations. The primary function of the building was a pilgrimage chapel, staffed by a small community of monks (many of who are buried along the path from the cemetery up the hill, if you forgo the paved road). After the monks departed, the local church used the chapel for occasional masses on a rotation, and it became primarily a destination for architourism.

This was the state of affairs during my visits to the chapel, and I must say the loss of the site's actual religious function diluted the experience and the whole of the building. A building deprived of its purpose is a lifeless thing; and no building can be self-justifying. So the proposal that a congregation of nuns from a nearby town might re-occupy the site was welcome news to me. Not so to the Le Corbusier Foundation, who had long coveted the building and wanted to add it to their portfolio. A legal battle over the site ensued wherein the Le Corbusier Foundation argued that building anywhere near the site would ruin the intent of the auteur and threaten a national cultural treasure. This petition has additional details about the dispute.

This was in one sense a metaphorical battle between the worship of the artist and the worship of God, and I for one am rather surprised at the outcome.

The legal position of the Foundation was weak enough and the design of the new monastery, the work of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, was reverential and hidden enough that the proposal went forward. (View the full article for images of the design as well as further photos.) In recent years Renzo Piano has become the go-to architect for this kind of architecturally-sensitive projects; his office is also designing and addition to the Kimball in Fort Worth.

Saturday Morning with Miriam

When your two year old comes to you bearing wooden blocks and says "buiwd a chuch, buiwd a chuch," how can you say no?

So we built a basilica modeled somewhat after the English cathedral prototype, with buttresses for transepts and a tower at the crossing. (Regular posting to resume soon.)

Construction Update: St John Neumann

Before Christmas I was able to get alook at the only church under construction around these parts. The new building project for St John Neumann in Westlake has been a tumultuous one; my understanding is that they have gone through three architects and no shortage of controversy and arguments in the process. As of the end of 2010, the construction appears to be progressing and the completion date should be in the late spring or early summer.

The final design, by the architects STG design features a thrust platform for the altar surrounded by benches on three sides, surmounted by a large dome. The dome is an excellent unifying form that should be quite impressive at this scale, but the execution remains suspect. From the drawings I have seen the pivotal juncture between the dome and the structure below does not suggest a logical structural or traditional sculptural sequence. It appears more as a feature added to the building rather than an integral aspect.

If this is the case, it would be similar to the dominant architecture of the neighborhood. Westlake is the high-end suburb of Austin, notable primarily for its markedly conspicuous wealth. the dominant mode of residential building has been something the real estate agents and avaricious developers call "Hill Country Tuscan." This style has also migrated to dominate the retail buildings. It is a vaguely traditional-looking style with no direct antecedents plastered onto bloated suburban houses onto which is added the various showpiece features expected by (or of) the wealthy.

The St John Neumann church does not fall entirely into this trap. There siting is particularly sensitive, with the narthex transformed into a long low windowed hall (in the grand sense) overlooking a small expanse of hill country landscape. The massing works fairly well and is clearly the result of careful consideration and not a blind reliance on rote forms that would not fit into this site. But like the Hill Country Tuscan, the facade feels vaguely traditional (despite the curtain wall) without being clearly within any particular tradition. And the result is neither profoundly striking, nor is it commendably subtle. Whether this is ultimately a fault or an example of successful mediation will depend on the completed whole and the treatment of the interior.

On the interior I can only comment from the drawings. The liturgical arrangement and sanctuary appear very stage-like, with an odd proscenium behind the sanctuary. The placement of the various fittings has more to do with the space than with any clear relationships between them. This is confounded on the plan by some curious misspellings and incorrect labels that make me doubt the architects' full comprehension of their task in this respect. But again, the final judgment will have to wait until the completion of the building.

History Files Church Index

Over the past few weeks one of my favorite flickr groups has been overrun with submissions from the History Files sharing a wide range of modern churches. They have a large church index on their website as well with a great number of buildings of which I have only been able to scratch the surface. It looks like it will be a very useful resource in the future. One new discovery (for me) from their site is the church of Our Lady and St George, Walthamstow.

Designed by Inkpen Downie and completed in 1998, this building replaces an early church destroyed by fire earlier in the decade. A few of the particular elements are already somewhat dated, though less than many other churches of the same period. And it shares much of the proportion and massing which is so admirable in the brick parish churches of the inter-war period. On the whole I expect it will age gracefully.

The interior appears to strike a nice balance between a linear basilica and a purpose-built concentric seating arrangement. The thrust altar platform, corona, and curvilinear pew benches combine to emphasize the centrality and prominence of the altar.

Closer to God

An article on the website of Wired magazine, of all unlikely sources, reminded me of the most recent coffeetable-worthy church building catalog published at the beginning of last month. The book in question is entitled Closer to God edited by Robert Klanten and Lukas Feireiss. I do not yet have a copy, so I cannot provide a review; but let us hope that the book itself contains more insight into the motivation of religious architecture than the merit-based votive self-preservation suggested by the article on Wired.

The Wired article also features some nice photographs of San Paolo, Foligno designed by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas.

Follow Locus Iste on Twitter

You can now follow Locus Iste on twitter @Locus_Iste. By doing so you will get updates on new blog posts plus other items of interest not on the blog: notifications of new buildings added to the database, links to articles related to church architecture and images not seen on the blog. Tweet!

You can also follow the author's personal feed @_jjph.

San Antonio Trip Preview

Here are some quick teasers for three churches visited last weekend while in San Antonio for the Texas Society of Architects (AIA) convention. I'm working of posting more photos and writing descriptions & analysis of each of these, but I've been overwhelmed with other projects this week. First up, the chapel at the Haven for Hope which was dedicated last Sunday afternoon. Haven for Hope is an incredible place built to serve and transform San Antonio's homeless population. The scope of the services and the number of organizations & service providers involved is an astounding display of what it means to serve the "whole person." The scale means that it can help everyone who seeks help, not just a few at a time. Overland Partners led the design team, including the design for the chapel pictured below.

Next up is another campus chapel with a similarly profound & pivotal relationship with its site. O'Neil Ford's chapel on the campus of Trinity University.

And then in the evening we traveled out to the Anglican Use Roman Catholic parish Our Lady of Atonement, where the Sunday evening Mass is said in Latin from the (current) Roman Missal of Paul VI. I was hoping for some sign of "tradition sans traditionalism" but unfortunately no trace of that most desired grail was to be found here. The interior is fairly nice with greatest care in all the right places, though signs of cheap construction abound. The exterior is proportionally atrocious & tectonically inauthentic, but more on that later.

 

Papal Mass in Yaounde

While looking for something else entirely, I came across something of interest related to the recent posts on the Newman Beatification Altar structure. This is a photo of a purpose-built structure for another large outdoor Papal mass in Yaounde, Cameroon from March 2009.

Newly-lost Houston Jewel

Another closed church to report, this one is for sale and scheduled for demolition. With so many sub-par modern churches, it is a shame to lose one this good. Central Presbyterian Church in Houston combines many of the motifs of modern churches--full wall dalle de verre, glazed reveals between ceiling and walls, the jewel-box sanctuary--with sensitive localized features. The cloister in front of the church (which is away from the main street of Richmond Avenue) and the treatment of the arcade strike me as particularly representative of modern Texas architecture. I'm not sure that I would call it a masterpiece, but it is a fine building that is certainly a loss. Special thanks to narrowlarry for sharing an excellent set of photos in the church's last days. A few of his photos are included below.

Chapel of St John the Baptist, Matlock

Just had to share this image of a small chapel of ease from 1897. The architect is Sir Guy Dawber, one of those which John Betjeman credits as part of the "thin stream of life and vigorous influence for the good in English architecture for the last 50 years [1883-1933]." More on Betjeman soon, but I couldn't pass up sharing this building.

The chapel is no longer in use and owned by Friends of Friendless Churches.

Nigerian High Mass, Low Building

From the New Liturgical Movement blog, a poignant reminder of the relative insignificance of church buildings compared to their use.

Or perhaps some some fodder for consideration of elemental building in the manner of Laugier. If nothing else, a challenge to assumptions about appropriate pairings of style and liturgical forms. It's just a wonderful and compelling image, and I'm not quite sure what to make of it.Still more intriguing, this structure was purpose built:

Cleveland's Vanishing Sacred Architecture

By way of a follow up to out post on Architecture in Parish Closures: St James, Lakewood, I have just discovered this book, published in June. Cleveland's Vanishing Sacred Architecture documents the sacred architecture and art of churches in danger of closure. The authors highlight the cultural diversity created by immigration which gave rise to an architectural diversity which is now, presumably, less desirable.

This title is now available through the Locus Iste Bookstore.

Ampleforth Abbey Profile

Our favorite Dominican photographer of churches, Brother Lawrence Lew, O.P., has an excellent description of Giles Gilbert Scott's Ampleforth Abbey Church on the New Liturgical Movement. I'd like to think this is one of those few 20th century churches to which none but the most curmudgeonly predisposed partisans would object. This church is ornate where it is fitting, minimal where appropriate resulting in an interior effective and focused. St Bernard of Clairvaux would be proud.

Oranje Boven

Well now, the Congregation for Divine Worship does in fact say that for vestements and colors "preference should be given to materials, forms and colors which are in use in the country." [youtube_sc url="http://www.youtube.com/v/LEWANtdtQ2o" modestbranding="1" autohide="1"]

Hartman at SOM to Design Santa Ana Cathedral

The Diocese of Orange commissioned SOM Design Partner Craig W. Hartman, KSS FAIA, to design its first purpose-built permanent cathedral. Hartman led the design of Oakland's Cathedral of Christ the Light. For this service Pope Benedict XVI created the architect a Knight of the Order of Saint Sylveter. The Oakland cathedral is such as strong design and an idiosyncratic object that it is difficult to know what to expect from this project. It is in some ways analogous to the proverbially difficult sophomore album, and we will certainly follow the progress with great interest. With potentially  two major west coast cathedrals under his belt and the Papal knighthood, Hartman will certainly cement himself as a leading figure in American Catholic church architecture.

The Cardinal's Personal Chapel

Here is an introduction to another theme of liturgical architecture: the personal chapel, home shrine or ofrenda. Decidedly vernacular, adaptive (redemptive?) reuse, these small spaces provide insight into the organic development of devotional practice and therefore have some bearing on the development of communal architecture as well. Though most can certainly be written off as kitsch from the top-down high-culture standpoint, to do so is to amputate a living member. To paraphrase Dom Hans van der Laan, individual devotion based on the communal liturgy must be seen as a derivation. So too, the personal chapel is a derivation of the communal liturgical space. But as devotion has a way of organically integrating into tradition, practice and even doctrine, these small spaces of personal preference may inform our communal building practices. This is especially important since liturgical building and expression require far more guidance from below than does liturgical practice itself.

And so I am pleased to find this high quality video introduction to the personal chapel in the preserved chambers of Venerable (soon-to-be Blessed) John Henry Cardinal Newman.

The Cardinal's Personal Chapel from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

Faith in Place Ideas Competition

Sorry for the posting lag this week. I've been stalled fixing some back-of-house issues on the building database side of the site. But there are a number of very interesting posts and some very exciting building features in the works, so stay tuned. In the meantime, there is an architectural competition entitled The Building: Problem or Solution? sponsored by the organization Faith in Place.

"The Building: Problem or Solution? is an a ideas competition, managed by Faith in Place, intended to create new ideas in the design of religious buildings, and greater creativity in the re-use and modification of existing structures."

The competition has three categories: new stand-alone building, multi-congregational buildings, and multi-use building. As this is an ideas competition the plan is to have the authors of winning entries participate in a panel discussion, followed by an exhibition and publication.

The intent seems to be to create a uniform catalog of a wide variety of concepts that could be used to begin discussion with congregations concerning building projects. Based on the degree and diversity of participation this has the potential to be an incredible resource.

"And because the buildings are serving communities as a whole and are in active use, it is our hope that they will not be burdens to their congregations, but solutions for the array of problems to which religious bodies address themselves. Assuredly, this includes holding a space for sacred contemplation. But it also includes education and care of the young, advocacy with the poor and disempowered, civic engagement on critical issues of policy, and more."

For the most part remain neutral emphasizing buildability and practicality. The one exception is a disproportionate weight placed upon sustainability (6 of the 11 judging criteria pertain to sustainability, green issues and/or nature). However, the understanding of sustainability apparent in the prospectus texts reflects a far more complex notion than provided just by LEED and building technologies. At its heart are some of the most basic, traditional, and vital concerns of religious building extending beyond psychological experience (here rendered "contemplation"). These include context, stewardship,"human activity," and above all community, both in the internally faith community and its relationship and service to an external community.

Deadline for registration is 15 August 2010 and for submission is 31 August 2010.

Crying on the Inside

...and on the outside as well. Here is a video from EWTN wherein "Fr. Robert Barron, of Word On Fire Catholic Ministries and Professor at U. of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, explains why Parishes now aren't being built like the traditional parishes and the problems associated with this." I won't pick it apart line for line, though it is tempting. But it is just another incoherent and inconsistent attack on modernist buildings (claiming to be a defense of traditionalist buildings) which contributes nothing to the discussion. These are public opinions continuously voiced from both sides that depress me to the point of quitting in despair and at the same time motivate me to keep going.

And now back to finishing a post in defense of a beautiful but endangered deco Sicilian Romanesque church...

Architectural Record - Building Type Study

This month's Building Type Study on Architectural Record's website is dedicated to Sacred Spaces, their first such feature since May 2005. The study features some interesting projects, including St Paul, Foligno by Studio Fuksas (previously featured on Locus Iste) and the Pope John Paul II Hall in Rijeka, Croatia by Randić-Turato d.o.o. (which needs to be featured here soon). This is also my first look at the Bethany Community Church by Seattle's Miller|Hull Partnership. How did I miss this one for two years?