ABSTRACT

Mid-20th century sacred architecture in America sought to bridge modernism with religion by abstracting cultural and faith traditions and pushing the envelope in the design of houses of worship. Modern architects embraced the challenges of creating sacred spaces that incorporated liturgical changes, evolving congregations, modern architecture, and innovations in building technology.
The book describes the unique context and design aspects of the departure from historicism, and the renewal of heritage and traditions with ground-breaking structural features, deliberate optical effects and modern aesthetics. The contributions, from a pre-eminent group of scholars and practitioners from the US, Australia, and Europe are based on original archival research, historical documents, and field visits to the buildings discussed. Investigating how the authority of the divine was communicated through new forms of architectural design, these examinations map the materiality of liturgical change and communal worship during the mid-20th century.

chapter |11 pages

Introduction

The sacred space

part I|57 pages

Modernists and sacred architecture

chapter 1|16 pages

Minimal ritual

Mies van der Rohe’s Chapel of St. Savior, 1952

chapter 3|19 pages

Tuskegee University’s second chapel

A departure and a continuation

part II|82 pages

The parabola, concrete, and modern sacred architecture

chapter 4|20 pages

Bold modern form

The parabola and St. Louis’s sacred buildings

chapter 7|21 pages

A monumental absence

Paul Rudolph’s Christian Science Building, 1965 (demolished 1986)

part III|80 pages

Denominations, identity, and modern sacred architecture

chapter 8|20 pages

Creating sacred spaces in the suburbs

Roman Catholic architecture in post-war Los Angeles, 1948–76

chapter 9|19 pages

Critiquing modernism

The unorthodox Orthodox, 1950s–60s

part IV|71 pages

Modern interiors and liturgical fittings

chapter 12|20 pages

Seeing, not knowing

Symbolism, art, and “opticalism” in mid-century American religious architecture

chapter 13|20 pages

The sanctuary wall

Unitarian rationalism illuminated

chapter 14|21 pages

Tradition and transcendence

Eero Saarinen’s MIT Chapel and the nondenominational ideal