Blogs

Interfaith Design: Chair Welcome

By Michael L. Janaskie AIA posted 04-24-2023
Be the first person to recommend this.
Welcome members and allied professionals. This year, I am serving as Chair of the AIA Interfaith Design Knowledge Community. I would like to recognize our past Chair Douglas Hanson, FAIA (2022) and his great leadership. Over the last several years we have navigated challenges, survived COVID lockdowns, and refined our direction. This current year finds us in full post COVID mode and has enabled this year’s theme of Traction to strongly roll out. We will host the International Religious Art & Architecture Awards Program & Reception (a long-standing tradition) at the AIA Conference in San Francisco on June 8. Our Design committee is working ...
0 comments

Combining the New with the Old

By Douglas D. Hanson FAIA posted 07-21-2022
1 person recommends this.
I recently read an article about a church in Los Angeles that was going to tear down their religious buildings and build a new mixed-use project in its place. The new project would include a new worship hall, school, and affordable housing. Rick Reinhard, who has written on real estate and the financial realities of religious facilities, has laid out an easy-to-follow strategic approach for Houses of Worship that face financial instability. According to the article, the church had done adequate due diligence including financial viability, legacy, and moral obligations. It appears they have taken into consideration many of the points that Reinhard makes, which ...
1 comment

Issues Related to Local Regulation of Religious Land Use

By Patrick A. Perry posted 10-27-2020
1 person recommends this.
Interfaith Design’s Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present the first in an occasional series of articles on the practice of interfaith architecture. Patrick Perry is a real estate and environmental attorney practicing in Los Angeles. This month, Patrick shares some of his experience with the unique land use and zoning concerns for religious organizations. Please enjoy and share! In 1992 the Missionaries of Charity Brothers, a religious order founded by Mother Teresa, acquired a historic property in a densely populated neighborhood southwest of downtown Los Angeles where they established an outreach ministry to homeless youth and young adults. ...
0 comments

Detroit Landmarks Video

By Jason P. Haskins AIA posted 09-23-2020
Be the first person to recommend this.
I was sent this video – it’s a short watch at just shy of six minutes, but it’s a beautiful expression of some of the religious architecture in Detroit , Michigan by a local dentist and his family. As written in The Oakland Press, “Huszti’s five-minute short “ Detroit Landmarks: Inspiration” is a love letter to the architecture of various houses of worship in his area. The soaring views of these beautiful places of spiritual comfort has become a symbol of hope and inspiration during the pandemic.” Hope you enjoyed seeing this! Have you seen any other examples of creative expression coming out of the recent months that connect to religious architecture ...
0 comments

Case Study: Huaxiang Christian Community Center

By Cameron T. Bird AIA posted 05-28-2020
Be the first person to recommend this.
Interfaith Design's Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present a series of monthly case studies based on selected award winners from the annual Faith and Form/Interfaith Design International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards. Please enjoy and share! The Christian church has been challenged from the beginning to live in the world, but set apart from the world. This state of spiritual being has been reflected, since the Roman Empire legalized Christianity, in the buildings that the church has built. Completed in 2018 in Fuzhou, China, the Huaxiang Christian Community Center embraces its role as the church made manifest. Entrance - ...
0 comments

Case Study: St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church, Ankeny, IA

By Michael L. Janaskie AIA posted 03-24-2020
Be the first person to recommend this.
This is certainly the year where we as a nation think about the important state of Iowa. We are now about a month past the Iowa caucuses and there are likely a variety of opinions on the results and the process of determining delegates. However, when it comes to this Iowa project, there is truly a unified chorus of support for this 2019 Faith and Form award winner, St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church, the feature focus for our March Blog. Directly in the heart of Iowa north of Des Moines, Neumann Monson Architects (MNA) designed this 31,805 SF facility which was completed in 2015 by Hansen Company, Inc. The firm states the design is an ‘assemblage ...
2 comments

Case Study: St. Mary's High School Chapel, Berkeley

By Kennedy Colombo AIA posted 12-28-2019
Be the first person to recommend this.
Interfaith Design’s Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present a series of monthly case studies based on selected award winners from the annual Faith and Form/Interfaith Design International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards. Please enjoy and share! Making your way through the residential streets of North Berkeley approaching the south entry of St. Mary’s College High School campus, the first building you encounter is the striking new chapel. Rising from a gentle slope just through the entry gates, the concrete walled chapel functions like a friendly gatehouse. The 38-foot sloped tower anchors the campus entry while simultaneously ...
1 comment

Case Study: Omaha’s Tri-Faith Commons Celebrates Diversity and Unity

By Katherine B. Ball AIA posted 10-16-2019
Be the first person to recommend this.
Interfaith Design’s Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present a series of monthly case studies based on selected award winners from the annual Faith and Form/Interfaith Design International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards. Please enjoy and share! We live in a time of intense polarization. Partisan divides are deep, many of us live in neighborhoods where we are surrounded by like-minded people, and social media makes it easy for us to seek out opinions that match our own. We seem to have lost the ability to disagree agreeably, and we are increasingly at risk of becoming isolated within the limited social circles of those who look, ...
0 comments

The Spirit of Place- Spirit of Design

By Katherine B. Ball AIA posted 06-14-2019
1 person recommends this.
Interfaith Design’s Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present a series of monthly case studies based on selected award winners from the annual Faith and Form/Interfaith Design International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards. Please enjoy and share! The word “andamento” has its roots in music; it generally refers to the progression of a fugue, or the pace and evolution of a series of individual notes forming a cohesive pattern. In the visual arts, however, andamento takes on rich meaning in terms of the pattern formed by the individual pieces, or tesserae, of a mosaic. In the process of artistic collaboration, then, perhaps andamento best ...
0 comments

Reversing the Trend

By John J. Tagle AIA posted 05-28-2019
Be the first person to recommend this.
Christian congregations are losing numbers. This is an undeniable trend. According to Simon G. Brauer in his 2017 peer-reviewed paper written for the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, congregations hit their peak of 414,000 in 2006 and by 2012 the number shrank to 384,000. Photo by John Tagle Architects According Thom Rainer, in his 2018 article Hope for Dying Churches , “Between 6,000 and 10,000 churches in the U.S. are dying each year.” There is no solid statistical evidence of this many closings. But whether the numbers are real or fake, when these great sacred landmarks are dark and lifeless, ...
0 comments

Case Study: St. Mary’s Chapel, Lafferty, Ohio, Midland Architecture

By Kennedy Colombo AIA posted 04-13-2019
Be the first person to recommend this.
photo credit: Jay Gullion Interfaith Design’s Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present a series of monthly case studies based on selected award winners from the annual Faith and Form/Interfaith Design International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards. Please enjoy and share! The rolling hills of the northern Ohio Valley, along the western Appalachians, are home to some of the oldest farming communities in the United States. St. Mary’s Chapel, in the rural hamlet of Lafferty, emerges from one of those hills, comfortably residing as a contemporary piece of architecture rooted in its place . When fire consumed the previous ...
0 comments

Revitalizing Tower Bells in Chicago and Beyond

By Katherine B. Ball AIA posted 04-09-2019
1 person recommends this.
Guest Post By Kim Schafer, founder and partner of Community Bell Advocates, LLC photo credit Christopher Chung Introduction Bells are not only hidden signalers inside distinctive architectural features—towers—but also the usual reason for the tower’s design. Our mission at Community Bell Advocates, LLC is to recognize bells as an integral element of tower architecture and a critical component in connecting listeners to their shared histories, values, and communities. Too many tower bells are in disrepair, neglected or forgotten altogether. We aim to revitalize these bells and encourage the installation of new ones through consultation, education, ...
1 comment

Case Study: Liberty United Methodist Church, Dake Wells Architecture

By Jason P. Haskins AIA posted 02-18-2019
Be the first person to recommend this.
Dake Wells Architecture: Liberty United Methodist Church Rush Creek Campus Liberty, Missouri, US Photo credit: Gayle Babcock, Architectural Imageworks, LLC Interfaith Design’s Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present a series of monthly case studies based on selected award winners from the annual Faith and Form/Interfaith Design International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards. Please enjoy and share! Boldly perched on the brow of a hill in humble proclamation, Liberty United Methodist Church’s Rush Creek Campus establishes a new home for the growing community. Its architecture reflects how the expansion bridges the heritage ...
0 comments

Case Study: Vajrasana Buddhist Retreat Center, Walters & Cohen Architects

By Katherine B. Ball AIA posted 01-21-2019
1 person recommends this.
Walters & Cohen Architects: Vajrasana Buddhist Retreat Centre Walsham le Willows, Suffolk, UK photo credit Walters & Cohen Architects Interfaith Design’s Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present a series of monthly case studies based on selected award winners from the annual Faith and Form/Interfaith Design International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards. Please enjoy and share! The Buddhist mindset embraces paradoxes. Koans such as “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” help the practitioner experience multiplicities of thought, breaking down the barriers between the active and the meditative mind to ...
0 comments

Richard Vosko, Hon. AIA receives honorary degree from St. Bonaventure University

By Richard S. S. Vosko, Hon. AIA Hon. AIA posted 02-23-2018
Be the first person to recommend this.
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Richard S. Vosko, Ph.D., Hon. AIA, past chair of IFRAA (now Interfaith Design) received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from St. Bonaventure University for his contributions to the fields of religious art and architecture. Vosko who is also a priest of the Diocese of Albany, NY, has been working since 1970 as a sacred space planner throughout the United States and Canada. He was elected as an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects in 2005 and is a current member of the editorial committee of Faith & Form. Vosko is known internationally as a frequent author and speaker on topics related to sacred ...
0 comments

The only constant is change: Interfaith Design's story

By Emma Tucker posted 02-13-2018
Be the first person to recommend this.
New name, same great community After many years as the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art, and Architecture (IFRAA), we've embraced a new name: Interfaith Design. Why change the name? We had many reasons: It was long and hard to remember. When shortened to IFRAA, newcomers didn't understand what it meant. We wanted an easier way to identify our community. The feedback we've received over the years was clear: our members wanted a short, easy-to-remember but descriptive name. How did you change the name? We started this process in early 2015. And we weren't alone: many of the other AIA Knowledge Communities had their own discussions about ...
0 comments

Religious Architecture and Arts Design Awards Program

By Brian D. McLaren AIA posted 12-31-2017
Be the first person to recommend this.
The annual awards program, co-sponsored by Interfaith Design and Faith & Form, honors the best in architecture, liturgical design, and art for religious spaces. Learn more View the 2022 Award Winners Subscribe to Faith & Form , an independent quarterly journal that focuses one issue per year on the winners of the ID/Faith & Form Awards for Religious Art and Architecture.
0 comments

Our mission and our goals

By Brian D. McLaren AIA posted 12-31-2017
Be the first person to recommend this.
Mission Interfaith Design (ID) is a Knowledge Community of the American Institute of Architects. It promotes an exchange of ideas, values and strategic information specifically relating to the design and construction of buildings, landscapes and works of art that serve a sacred purpose. Our goals & objectives To grow, sustain and strengthen ID Foster relations with patrons Create a subcommittee structure to carry out the goals of ID Assure continuity in ID leadership To be the credible voice in matters pertaining to the interface of religion, art and architecture Enhance the ID website to establish a “go to” reputation in matters ...
0 comments

Resources

By Brian D. McLaren AIA posted 12-31-2017
Be the first person to recommend this.
A-D Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture American Guild of Judaic Art Architecture, Culture & Spirituality Forum (ACSF) ArchNet: Islamic Architecture Art+Christian Enquiry Artists in Christian Testimony (International) Arts in Religious and Theological Studies Association of Consultants for Liturgical Space Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Chiesa Oggi Church Architecture Dept (Baptist General Convention of Texas) Church.Design Magazine Church Production Magazine Christians in the Visual Arts Conference for Catholic Facility Management E-O Energy Star Action Workbook for Congregations Envision Church ...
0 comments

Pathways to involvement in ID

By Brian D. McLaren AIA posted 12-31-2017
Be the first person to recommend this.
In addition to attending our conferences and tours, we hope you'll join us in making Interfaith Design a learning community that's increasingly your first-stop reference for best practices in religious and spiritual architecture. This is a great way to get to know colleagues from around the country and share insights and resources in a noncompetitive environment. Interested in volunteering? The AIA Interfaith Design (ID) knowledge community is one of the twenty-one ways to make an impact through the AIA Knowledge Communities. The Interfaith Design knowledge community brings together professionals interested in the design of religious facilities in a broad ...
0 comments