With this issue of Faith & Form, we close a history of publishing on the reflection, design, construction, and use of religious architecture and art that started more than 50 years ago. This issue will be the last published by Faith & Form, … [continue]
Editorials
Practicing a ‘Sacred Art’
Volume 52, Issue 3
While many in architecture have embraced sustainability, their efforts are reactionary. All are attempts to mend the mess we’ve made of the planet. However, the impetus for sustainability in faith communities is not reactionary. For many people of … [continue]
Crucible of Questions
Volume 52, Issue 2
People were kneeling in the streets of Paris. This was not simply a demonstration of their distress about a piece of France’s history going up in flames. The burning of Notre-Dame happened on the Monday of Holy Week, a period for Christians that is … [continue]
Is Silence a Luxury?
Volume 52, Issue 1
The Patheos columnist Carl McColman wrote recently about the value of silence. His insights into the choice to be quiet seem particularly relevant to the topic of this issue—the creation and experience of environments for retreat. McColman’s … [continue]
Reports From the Forbidden Zone
Volume 51, Issue 4
As we went to press with this awards issue, I participated in a celebration of a special program in sacred architecture at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Walton Visiting Critic program, which … [continue]
Good, Ordinary
Volume 51, Issue 3
Recently I have been looking into the life of Connecticut architect Louis A. Walsh. Never heard of him? Not surprising. Walsh was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1877 to parents who had emigrated from Ireland. He attended local schools in … [continue]
Displacement as a Condition of Faith
Volume 51, Issue 2
The recent annual symposium of the Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality Forum (acsforum.org) in Coral Gables, Florida, focused on the topic of “Displacement and Architecture.” For me, this theme called into question the assumption that people of … [continue]
Doshi’s Sacred in the Secular
Volume 51, Issue 1
As we go to press with this issue, it has been announced that the 2018 Pritzker Prize is bestowed on architect Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi, 90, of Ahmadabad, the first architect from India to be so honored. Many of Doshi’s works exude a sense of … [continue]
When is a Mosque not a Mosque?
Volume 50, Issue 4
The Guardian newspaper recently carried a story about a brand new mosque just being completed on a prominent site in Tehran. The new mosque is a low-slung building, designed by Fluid Motion Architects, built next to a modern landmark, the City … [continue]
Dear Architect, Circa 2067
Volume 50, Issue 3
Dear architect, dear liturgical designer, dear artist of the sacred, dear creator of those spaces where worshippers of the future might gather. Perhaps you have found the words on this dusty page in a basement archive, or in a box of long-forgotten … [continue]
