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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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

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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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Architects: Studio Tam associati
Location: Khartoum, Popular Republic of Sudan
Client: EMERGENCY ngo
Site Engineers: Roberto Crestan (EMERGENCY ngo)
Program Coordinator: Pietro Parrino (EMERGENCY ngo)
Photographs: Raul Pantaleo & Marcello Bonfanti

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Friday 24 April at 11 a.m. will be presented the new Church in Foligno, based on plans by Architects Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas.

Architects: Massimiliano & Doriana Fuksas
Site: Foligno, Italy
Client: Conferenza Episcopale Italiana – Diocesi di Foligno
Total area: 20,690 sqm
Building area: 610 sqm
Parish complex: 1,300 sqm
Structure: Ing. Gilberto Sarti
Service: A.I. Engineering
Artists: Enzo Cucchi, Mimmo Paladino
General contractor: Ediltecnica spa
Stone furniture FUKSAS DESIGN: Scalpellino Maurizio Volpi
Wood furniture FUKSAS DESIGN: Falegnameria Bertini
Lighting FUKSAS DESIGN: Iguzzini illuminazione
Project Year: 2001-2009
Photographs: Moreno Maggi

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Architects: Richard Meier and Partners, New York, USA
Location: Tor Tre Teste, Rome, Italy
Client: Vicariato of Rome
Structural engineers: Ove Arup and Partners, Italcementi
Mechanical engineers: Ove Arup and Partners, Luigi Dell’Aquila
Concrete prefabricated panels: Italcementi
Lights and illumination: FMRS, Erco
Year of the competition: 1996
Year of completion: 2003
Constructed area: 830 m2 church, 1671 m2 parish complex
Photographs: Andrea Giannotti, Gabriele Rossetti

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).
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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: © Stéphane Chalmeau

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The construction process of the The Cathedral of Christ the Light by SOM (featured earlier on AD), clearly shows the impressive structure that supports the building and its skin.

You can see more at this gallery, courtesy of SOM:

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If you haven´t heard about Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, maybe you didn´t take and Architecture History class, as they played an active role on the  International Style during the 1930s. They also developed an expertise in high rise towers and structural engineering, shaping the downtown of the most important cities in the United States – and the rest of the world. As of now SOM is one of the largest offices in the world, with on-going projects such as the Burj Dubai, actually the tallest building in the world.

But SOM is not just high rise buildings. They have developed award winning sustainable master plans, interiors, structures, and other types of buildings.

Now we present you The Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, CA, an amazing structure with a wooden/glass skin that creates an interior full of light. One of my favorite buildings of the year, already awarded with an AIA Honor Award for Architecture.

We´d like to thank SOM San Francisco for providing us all the information of this new project.

Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Location: Oakland, California, USA
Design Team: Craig Hartman, FAIA, Design Partner / Gene Schnair, FAIA, Managing Partner / Keith Boswell, AIA, Technical Director / Raymond Kuca, AIA, Project Manager / Patrick Daly, AIA, Senior Design Architect / Eric Keune, AIA / Lisa Gayle Finster, AIA / Christopher Kimball / Jane Lee / Christina Kyrillou / Elizabeth Valadez / Denise Hall Montgomery / Mariah Neilson / Peter Jackson / Surjanto / Gary Rohrbacher / Ayumi Sugiyama / Liang Wu / Katie Motchen / Matthew Tierney / Henry Vlanin
Structural Engineering: Mark Sarkisian, PE, SE, Structural Engineering Director / Peter Lee, PE, SE, Senior Structural Engineer / Eric Long, PE, Senior Structural Engineer / Aaron Mazeika, PE, AP / William Bond / Ernest Vayl / Feliciano Racines / Jean-Pierre Michel Chakar / Lindsay Hu / Rupa Garai / Sarah Diegnan
Interior Design: Tamara Dinsmore, Chanda Capelli, Susanne LeBlanc, Carmen Carrasco, David Lou
General Contractor: Webcor Builders
Design start: 2002
Construction Complete: 2008
Site Area: 2.50 acres
Constructed Area: 20,996 sqm
Photographs: César Rubio, Timothy Hursley, John Blaustein

Architect´s description:

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