Sacred spaces: designing America's churches

Christian Century, June 15, 2004 by Gretchen T. Buggeln

These days, most of the buildings we inhabit--our houses, our schools, our shopping malls--do nothing to elevate the soul. Most Christians would agree that church buildings, by contrast, should affect us spiritually. Worship space should make us aware of our senses, remove us from the ordinary experiences of life, and prepare us for worship and fellowship. One of Rose's major objections to modern churches is that worshipers don't know what to do in them. He insists that this is because the architecture itself offers no clues as to how to act or feel. To him, a modern building is a blank space that confuses, rather than settles, the worshiper. Hence his argument for verticality, iconography, permanence, hierarchy and formality.

Rose's principles cannot all be applied consistently across denominations and congregations, of course. Churches will differ, for instance, about iconographic representation and hierarchy within the sanctuary. On the other hand, some verticality, a feeling of tradition and performance, and at least a degree of formality do seem characteristics of most effective church spaces. These characteristics require both good design and its effective realization through high-quality materials and workmanship.

CHURCH DESIGN IS rarely as carefully considered as one would hope. Or course, building committees have budgetary and practical concerns. Design-and-build 6rms, rather than architects, are increasingly responsible for church building and renovation projects. These firms are efficient but they often sacrifice design to practical concerns such as cost and speed of construction. Many congregations raise perennial and important questions about building and design: Is this the best use of our resources? How much building do we need? Wouldn't these funds be better spent on mission and service?

Yet somewhere in the building process issues of design need to be considered, because design does matter. Human beings have long recognized that architecture shapes behavior and experience. We live in a material world and respond to what we see and feel, often quite unconsciously. Thoughtful church architects ask congregations what they want the church to do spiritually as well as functionally.

One of my favorite new church designs is West Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1993 the congregation's 1870s Gothic building was nearly destroyed by fire. Working with the Philadelphia architect George Yu, the congregation chose to salvage what it could of its old building, which was important to its inner-city neighborhood. Yu incorporated "symbols of memory" into the new church, including an original three-door entrance, brick buttresses along one exterior wall, the original marble font, and some pieces of stained glass from the Gothic building. He engaged the congregation in discussions about the Reformed tradition of worship and architecture and the liturgical goals for the new space.

The new sanctuary is a high-ceilinged, light-filled, warm and inviting spate with movable seating for about 100. High-quality natural materials in neutral tones pro dominate. The rest of the church complex is pleasant and well organized, but the chief energy clearly went into de signing a worshipful and meaningful sanctuary. West Presbyterian is not a magnificent, eye-catching building--in fact, it is a little quirky--but it is eminently well suited for its congregation and its neighborhood.