Convener 2003

Thomas Slon (project architect at Arthur John Sikula Associates;  member of the American Institute of Architects)

• September 2002 letter
• October 2002 letter

Seminar Participants 2003

Members: William Seth Adams, Cortlandt Bender, Richard Butler, Davis Caron, D. Foy Christopherson, Mark Joseph Costello, Peyton Craighill, Carol Frenning, John Gallen, Marion Hatchett, Patrick Holtkamp, Philip Horrigan, Conrad Kraus, Dennis Krouse, Mario Locsin, Daniel McCarthy, Ken Meltz, James Moudry, James Notebaart, T. Jerome Overbeck, Robert Rambusch, Jan Robitscher, James Ross, Arthur Sikula, Thomas Slon, Thomas Stehle, Mark Torgerson, Richard Vosko

Visitors: Martin Rambusch, Barbara Rund, Deborah Sokolove, Edward Sövik

Seminar Report 2003

Last year’s exploration of the “primitive liturgy” presumably equipped us with a better evaluative scheme with which to view buildings than the mere declaration of personal likes and dislikes.  With this we visited four church buildings in Columbus and the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Indianapolis.

First Christian Church (Eliel Saarinen)

Eliel Saarinen’s First Christian Church (1942) is simple and robust in its rectangular form and, while carefully detailed, shows no sign of architectural decoration for decoration’s sake.  The plan is only reminiscent of a basilica with congregation assembled in pews, a grand stair leading to a major platform on which altar, pulpit, and organ are located. The baptistery, to the back of the platform, is screened from view except in the event of a baptism.

North Christian Church (Eero Saarinen)

The North Christian Church, designed by Eero Saarinen (Eliel’s son) in 1964 for an offshoot community of the First Christian Church, is even more singular in its intent and expression: a place for a community gathered around a table. There is little opportunity for artwork or seasonal effects. Natural light enters only through a skylight above the table or through hidden apertures at the circumference of the space.  The “communion” does not happen by way of a procession to the table, but the “food” is passed by the deacons to the congregation which is already seated around the table by virtue of the room’s design. The baptistery is not in the space dedicated to the regular Sunday worship; it is in another room furnished with seating and a pool, only to be used when baptism is to be celebrated.

St Peter’s Lutheran Church (Gunnar Birkerts)

St Peter’s Lutheran Church, designed by Gunnar Birkerts (1988), seems to attempt to unify the congregation which, in a former style might be seated in the main hall of the church and galleries above, by connecting the two with raked seating, creating something of an auditorium.  The overall effect places the focus on the platform on which altar table, pulpit, offering posts, eternal flame candle, paschal candle, and baptistery are located.  The relative scale of these furnishings make the baptistery, under-scaled by any comparison, seem less than even a water stoup.  The plan of the church is organized around two non-concentric circles, one shaping the platform for the liturgical furnishing, the other shaping the congregation. This double circle plan creates two distinct spaces in the manner of the nave and sanctuary dichotomy, and the communion rail which surround the sanctuary only reinforces what the essential architecture seems to be indicating.

St. Bartholomew’s Church (Ratio Architects)

The plan of St. Bartholomew’s Church, designed by Ratio Architects (2000), is modeled on the spiral of a conch which results in an impressive sculptural space; but the building, especially the worship space, seemed to have been conceived separate from liturgical considerations.  The unrestrained multiplicity of materials used in the building added to this sense of disjointed effort.  The altar, pulpit, choir, and entrance to the chapel of reservation are all on a platform which is located, at least in theory, at the center of the spiral, but the three-dimensional “swirl” of the building creates essentially two spaces, a higher and a lower which have their divide exactly over the platform, itself defined by knee walls, ramps, credenzas, and choir.  The baptistery in the narthex of the church, a water and stone sculpture, floats in the narthex and is anchored to the architectural design only loosely by the skylight above it. 

Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul (Edward Sövik)

In the interior renovation by Edward Sövik (1986) of the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Indianapolis (1905), clarifying the room’s architecture clarifies its purpose.  The baptistery anchors the entry, while the platform which supports altar, pulpit, cathedra, and cross terminates the procession.  Color and light enhance the space without detracting from the foci.  Devotional pieces are respectfully enshrined in available side niches.  Chairs, not pews, and a sanctuary platform, which can presumably be dismantled and reassembled, offer (yet unrealized) possibilities for flexibility and opportunities to further erode the distinction between the clergy’s sanctuary and the laity’s nave. 

The five buildings indicate how the design of the worship space dictated, intentionally or otherwise, the relationship between assembly and table, font, or word and how these become less objects and more opportunity for liturgical events. Finally, while at least to some the modern language of form follows function eroded the sense of church building as icon of the tradition, each of these edifices has become a powerful icon of the living faith and worship of these communities.