Architect: Beton / Marta Rowińska & Lech Rowiński
Location: Tarnów, Poland
Building Team: Local Semi-Professional Builders
Investor: Well-known Polish Writer
Project year: 2009
Photographs: Beton
Browsing: Religious Architecture
Architects: VJAA
Location: Collegeville, Minnesota, USA
Client: Saint John’s Abbey
Constructed area: 17.4 sqm
Project year: 2008
Photographs: © Paul Crosby
Architects: Students of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, led by Professor Frank Flury
Local architect: Ecker Architekten
Location: Boedigheim, Germany
Client: Protestant Church of Bödigheim
Project year: 2009
Photographs: Robert Piotrowski, Dea Ecker, Klaus Hilger & John Ruffalo, Brigida Gonzalez
Website: Flurkapelle Buchen/Bödigheim

Architects: PLAN 01 architects
Location: Rennes Métropole, France
Project team: Jean Bocabeille, Anne-Cécile Comar, Philippe Croisier, Christophe Ouhayoun, Stéphane Pertusier, Ignacio Prego, Dominique Vitti, Anne-Charlotte Zanassi, Julien Zanassi and Nicolas Ziesel
Project manager: Daniela Miccolis
Project year: 2005-2009
Site Area: 1,100 sqm
Budget: US $2,72 M
Photographs: © Luc Boegly & Stéphane Chalmeau
Against tough competitors, such as Rafael Viñoly, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris and Foreign Office Architects, the competition to design the Jewish Community Center was awarded to Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands. The 30,000 sqf JCC project will emphasize an arts and community center that aims to bring “light, life and activity back to the street.” Situated on a heavily trafficked road, the JCC will include a three story linear pavilion that will create a “landscaped piazza and relate to the Camden Arts Center’s gardens” opposite the site.
More about the JCC after the break. read more »
Religion is one of the most important and traditional subjects in the world, and also part of architecture. Check our first part of previoulsy featured religious projects, and then enjoy our second part.
Church of 2000 / Richard Meier
Located in the eastern suburban area of Rome, the Church of 2000 “Dives in Misericordia” by architect Richard Meier is the first realized work of the American architect in the Italian capital, followed by the Ara Pacis Museum (2005). The importance of this project is to give value and attraction to the deepest and most far suburbs in Rome (read more…)
New Church in Foligno / Doriana e Massimiliano Fuksas
The project was won in 2001 after a national competition organized by the Conferenza Episcopale Italiana for the construction of new churches, the jury gave the following reasons for choosing, “as a sign of innovation that meets the latest international research, becoming a symbol of rebirth for the city after the earthquake (read more…)
Prayer & Meditation Pavillion / Studio Tam associati
The prayer and meditation pavilion is an integral part of the recently realized Cardiac surgery centre in Sudan, built by the Italian humanitarian organization, EMERGENCY NGO. The complex, planned and designed by Tamassociati architecture studio, is the only one of its kind to provide free health-care to patients in an extensive area (read more…)
Chapel in Villeaceron / S.M.A.O.
The idea of situating and relating a series of objects in the landscape- Dwelling, Chapel, Hunting pavilion and Guard´s residence- gave the project a dual significance: in addition to the close relationship between landscape, objects and itinerary -between space and objects-, each item had to provide a different response with different emphasis (read more…)
Veneza Farm Chapel / Decio Tozzi
Two plastic elements leave a mark on the landscape. Two signs of profound resonance: One, the curved roof Shelter of Men. The other, the Cross of Christ Combine with the landscape. This delicate relationship creates a space within the lake shore landscape – a void that delineates the small temple (read more…)
Nestled into a forest of Australian mimosa trees, a small family chapel designed by 57 Studio provides a quiet and serene place for religious contemplation. The chapel can hold approximately 40 seated people and focuses on providing ” the proper sense of religious spaces…through its communication with the natural surroundings.”
More about the chapel after the break. read more »
Once completed in 2010, the Bread of Life Global Ministries’ headquarters in Nei-hu, Taipei will be the largest church in Taiwan. Totaling over 12,000 square meters, the structure will be complete with commercial space, offices, cafe, roof deck, and of course, prayer rooms. Only in the early conceptual stages, Bittoni Design Studio is looking to better the design with constructive criticism from people outside the design team, and who better than you!
After a little more about the project, critique their start after the break. read more »
Architects: Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects
Location: La Jolla, CA, USA
Client: Congregation Beth Sholom
Project team: Stanley Saitowitz, John Winder, Michael Luke, Charles Shin, Benny Ho
Structural Engineering: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Mechanical, Electrical, Lighting & Plumbing Engineering: Randall Lamb Associates
Landscaping: David Reed Landscape Architects
General Contractor: DPR Construction Inc.
Project year: 2000
Photographs: Rien van Rijthoven
Architects: Bunker Arquitectura
Location: La Estancia Gardens, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
Principals in charge: Esteban Suarez, Jorge Arteaga, Sebastian Suarez , Santiago Gitanjalli, Zaida Montañana
Collaborators: Paola Moire, Miguel Angel Martinez, Jimena Muhlia
Client: Promotora Amates
Main Contractor: ETASA
Mechanical & Electrical Engineer: Cien Acres
Civil & Structural Engineer: DAE
Site Area: 60,000 sqm
Constructed Area: 117 sqm
Project year: 2007
Photographs: Megs Inniss & Sebastian Suarez
Spanish practice Andres Jaque Arquitectos shared with us this great renovation in Plasencia, transforming an old and abandoned seminary into a residence for former priests and students.
Check the diagrams and a great photo set after the break.
Architects: Trahan Architects, APAC
Location: Lousiana, USA
Project Architect: Victor F. “Trey” Trahan III, FAIA
Design team: Brad David, Kirk Edwards
Structural Engineer: Schrenk & Peterson Consulting Engineers
Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing Engineer: Apex Engineering Corporation
BUILDER: Quality Design and Construction, Inc.
Project Area: 1,586 sqm
Project year: 2004
Photographer: Tim Hursley / The Arkansas Office
Our friend Donaldas Trainauskas sent us his latest project, Pašilaičiai Parish Church inthe city of Vilnius, Lithuania. Trainauskas worked with architect Darius Baliukevicius in the design of the church.
Modern Vilnius presents itself as the city of two contrasting parts standing for two different worlds: a famous historical part, the Old Town protected by UNESCO, with its exceptional aura of dozens of churches and various cultural sights, created through centuries, and the other – residential/sleeping districts, mainly built during the Soviet years. The latter was deprived of any sacred spaces thus formed a huge urban area of emptiness.
Full architect’s description and more images, after the break. read more »
Eight students at the University of Technology in Eindhoven have built their own design of a little temple at full scale. These buildings were realized in a space that’s part of the office of Kovos Architects, with materials donated by different sponsors. The main source of inspiration during the design process was the abbey of Le Thoronet in the Provence, France.
Aspects like light, space, mass, rhythm and proportion find their most essential form in this great example of architectonic simplicity. After a visit to the abbey the students searched for an interpretation of these aspects within their own design of a little temple. With the full scale execution of the design, the spatial effect of the detail was most important.
The project is led by Jan Schevers. The participating students are Yuri Buteijn, Joan Gaudin, Faye Hermens, Dirk Reijnders, Dave Venmans, Raoul Vleugels, Johanna van Warners en Frank Wijnen. For more informations about the project and visits to the exhibition, check out the projects website: www.littletemple.nl
All photographs of the completed project by Ingrid Bussemakers. More images, after the break. read more »
Architects: Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Client: Congregation Beth Sholom
Project team: Stanley Saitowitz, Neil Kaye, Markus Bischoff, John Winder, Derrick Chan
Structural Engineering: Forell/Elsesser Engineers Inc.
Mechanical Engineering: Rumsey Engineers Inc.
Landscaping: Blasen Landscape Architecture
General Contractor: Overaa Construction
Constructed Area: 2,694 sqm
Budget: US $11,933,000
Project year: 2008
Photographs: Rien van Rijthoven & Bruce Damonte
Architecture is also present is perhaps one of the most ancient and traditional subjects in history: Religion. So to start this week’s Round Up, we bring you previously featured religious architecture.
Tautra Monastery / JSA
The project is situated on Tautra island in Trondheimsfjorden. It is a new monastery for 18 nuns, complete with a small church and all the facilities needed to make a living, as areas for production and so on. The original programme has been reduced with around 30% by eliminating almost all the corridors in the project (read more…)
Tanatorio Municipal de Leon / BAAS
The building is conceived as a tomb of tombs. A completely buried construction, it eludes its volume and its signification in order to camouflage itself in the interstices of a too-close residential area. A sheet of water by way of a roof constitutes the single facade, reflecting León’s sky like an allegory of death. All that emerges from the water (read more…)
The Church of the Holy Cross / KHR
The church of the holy cross was conceived as part of the landscape around Jyllinge. With its glass façade facing the fjord and a “fishing net” dividing the space of the church, the design clearly takes the history of the place seriously. The place has an emotional power with its spatial topography that seems to make time stand still (read more…)
Temporary chapel for the Deaconesses of St-Loup / Localarchitecture
In the summer of 2007, Localarchitecture and architect Danilo Mondada were awarded the contract to renovate the mother house of the Deaconess Community of St-Loup. The commission involves the complete renovation of a historic building (read more…)
The Prayer Chapel / debartolo architects
The PRAYER PAVILION OF LIGHT is part of a 58-acre church campus in Phoenix, USA. Sited along the edge of a desert preserve, a series of inclined, landscaped planes are incised by a 600 foot-long processional walk, progressively revealing the chapel as one gradually ascends the 28 vertical feet between the chapel mount and garden entrance (read more…)
Architect: Vicens & Ramos / Ignacio Vicens y Hualde, José Antonio Ramos Abengózar
Location: Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Madrid, Spain
Client: Obispado de Alcalá de Henares
Collaborators: Fernando Gil, Agustín Toledano, Roberto Rodríguez-Paraja, Jesús Gómez, Desirée González, Pablo Gutiérrez, Romina Barbieri, Raúl Rodríguez, Tibor Martín, Patricia de Elena
Photographs: Pablo Vicens y Hualde & Ricardo Santonja
Architect: OFIS arhitekti
Location: Krasnja, Slovenia
Competition Year: 2005
Construction Year: 2008-2009
Design Team: Rok Oman, Spela Videcnik, Andrej Gregoric, Janez martincic, Magdalena Lacka, Katja Aljaz, Martina Lipicer
Constructed Area: 135 sqm (70 sqm of inner space & 65 sqm of external space)
Photographs: Tomaz Gregoric

Architect: Decio Tozzi
Location: Valinhos/São Paulo, Brazil
Project year: 2002
Construction area: 225 sqm
Photographs: Cristiano Mascaro

Architect: Sancho-Madridejos Architecture Office
Location: Almadén, Ciudad Real, Spain
Principals: Sol Madridejos & Juan Carlos Sancho
Assistant – Technical Architect: Martin Pozuelo
Project Leader: Luis Renedo
Collaborators: Luis Renedo, Juan A. Garrido, Emilio Gómez Ramos, Patricia Planell, Marta Toral, Andrey García, Javier Moreno
Project year: 1996-2001
Photographs: Hisao Suzuki
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