Campanilismo (a/k/a Parochialism)

In last Sunday’s bulletin, Nicoletta shared some thoughts about bells and bell towers:

By: Nicoletta MacKenzie

Actually, the translation of campanilismo into parochialism is not a good one. The literal translation would be closer to “bell-tower-ism,” since a campanile is in fact a bell tower.

How did the usage of the word start? It started when, in the mid 500s, Italians began to build towers with bells, both for church and for public use. In the beginning, it was supposed to be the highest building in the village, town or city, and the bells had a very practical use. For instance: church bells were rung at very specific times or events and according to specific sounds. They would notify all within hearing distance that Mass was about to start, or the beginning of a novena, a triduum or the 40-hour Eucharistic Adoration. Every noon the bells told us that it was time to pray the Angelus (noon), and at 3:00 pm every Friday they’d toll Jesus’ death. Festive bell peals announced weddings, the local parish feast day, solemnities and processions and the election of a new Pope. Slow tolls notified of deaths and funerals.

Church bells also warned of danger and disasters, such as a fire, war and of pirate incursions, in the dark days when they prowled, pillaged and burned all around the coasts of Italy.

Bells on civic towers tolled national holidays, school times, marked the hours (down to the quarter hour) and also served as a warning mechanism.

You can see how important bells were in everyday life, and they were set on the tallest building so that their sound would reach as far as possible.

That’s why Italians became attached to their bell towers, their campanili. Soon there arose a spirit of competition in the breasts of citizens of neighboring villages, towns and even cities. After all, if it was to be the most visible representative of a community, the bell tower had to be beautiful; it had to be recognized from a distance; and it had to be unusual. A town with a “run of the mill” campanile reflected poorly on its inhabitants. And so the larger towns, who could count on the financial support of more people, started to hire architects to design the building that would represent them to anyone who came within sight.

Some of these towers are so famous that just about everyone in the world has heard of them.

For instance, who has not heard of The Leaning Tower of Pisa? Yes maam, it’s the bell tower of the Duomo (or principal church) of Pisa. Its striking structure has no rival anywhere in the world. It took “only” 177 years to complete and although the good Pisani certainly did not intend for their masterpiece to start sinking into the ground, they undoubtedly got their money’s worth! Here you can clearly see the Duomo, which is almost dwarfed by its magnificent and yes, leaning, tower.

Closer to the town from where my family hails, there is a less well known but equally distinctive bell tower: the Campanile di Ossuccio. Its delicate, slender and tall form is also unmistakable. This one stands guard over the church of St. Mary Magdalene. The characteristic top was added in the late 1400s, while the original “stem” goes back to the 1100s.

And who has not heard of the bell tower of Notre Dame? Or at least, of its bell-ringer? Now I’m going to dare to say that my campanile has that squat structure in Paris beat all hollow. And you can call me campanilista if you wish.

And now our Holy Trinity church also has a bell tower, with a full contingent of bells. I venture to say that it’s the most handsome in all Westminster, and while it may not rival in beauty with the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the slender marvel in Ossuccio, when it’s lit up at night it brings a lump to the throat. Its tall grace proclaims to our part of the city that we love God and put our trust in Him.

I can hardly wait to hear the sound of “our” bells calling us, and anyone else who wishes to join us. In fact, a bell tower with its ringing bells is eminently Catholic and exemplifies what the writer James Joyce said: “Catholic means: here comes everybody.” Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

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Architecture 101: Catherine and Siena

“Do not be satisfied with little things, because God wants great things!”
Catherine of Siena – Letter T127

29 April is the feast of Catherine of Siena, OP, a Doctor of the Church, a Dominican, and the force behind the restoration of the Papacy to Rome following the “Babylonian Captivity” in Avignon. Siena has a beautiful Duomo (or Cathedral) that is famous too.

Catherine was the youngest in her family who gave her father no options about her decision to join the Dominicans. Catherine wrote letters to popes, kings and queens, politicians and mercenaries, and many religious figures. Her teaching in “The Dialogue of Divine Providence”  earned her status as a Doctor of the Church.

Catherine’s hometown of Siena is a Tuscan hill town, located north of Rome and about 50 miles from Florence. Siena was settled in prehistoric times, with the first Roman settlement coming during the reign of Augustus. The town’s fortunes improved when the Lombards took over the area in the 4th century. Siena prospered as a city-state, and later as a republic. The University of Siena was founded in 1240, and is still an important Italian seat of learning. Notable sights include the Duomo, the Piazza del Campo, (town square) the Palazzo Pubblico and the Torre del Mangia, and the church of San Domenico. Wikipedia has a wonderful panorama view of Siena, showing the town hall and the Duomo. Go see it – it is too big to fit here.

Siena’s Duomo was built between 1215 and 1263. A major expansion was started in 1339, but the Black Death killed off most of the parishioners and workers, so the building remains unfinished to this day. The Siena Duomo is on of Italy’s greatest cathedrals.

The Siena Duomo is unique because the major axis of the nave runs north to south.

The Siena Duomo is a Romanesque cruciform church with a Gothic facade, a dome, a bell tower, and the main altar at the crossing. Inside elements include a famous octagonal ambo, several statues and murals about Catherine, and four statues of other saints by Michelangelo. Builders used white and greenish-black marble in alternating stripes for both the interior and exterior. Black and white are the traditional colors of Siena.

Sources and Resources:

1. EWTN: Saint Catherine of Siena:
   http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/CATSIENA.htm
2. Drawn by Love: the writings and world of Saint Catherine of Siena:
   http://www.drawnbylove.com/
3. Project Gutenberg: Letters of Catherine Benincasa by Saint Catherine of Siena
   http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7403
4. Sacred Destinations: Duomo di Siena/Siena Cathedral
   http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/siena-duomo
5. Wikipedia: Duomo di Siena/Siena Cathedral
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duomo_di_Siena

UPDATE: See more of the Architecture 101 topics here:

• Sacred Architecture for Dummies
• Built of Living Stones
• Romans, New Romans, Goths and Pearls
• Romanesque, Sant’Ambrosio
• CAD and ChurchBuilder
• Eight Historic Italian Churches
• The Tympanum
• The Nave
• 1400 Years as a Catholic Church

Side Note: In Denver, we have Saint Catherine of Siena Parish and School, which is run by the Dominicans.
http://www.saintcatherine.us/

See the history of this building here.

Basilica di

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Holy Trinity Church in Bendon, South Dakota

Some peeking into the far corners of the internet has uncovered this Holy Trinity Church in South Dakota:

Bendon, in Brule Co. South Dakota had a Catholic Church (Holy Trinity), which had masses, once a month and a community hall (used for some dances and family gatherings)

This information is care of the Hanson Family Genealogy:
http://iagenweb.org/iowa/bios/family-Hanson-III.htm

Quote from the Hanson’s page:

My parents were devout Roman Catholics and practiced their faith daily. My mother, like most of her family were particularly devout and lived her religion as best she could 17 miles from the nearest church with daily Mass.

We residents of Westminster are lucky to have our church so close to our homes. Imagine the adventure of a mid-winter trip across the prairie to an early morning Mass.

This Holy Trinity was built at the end of the 19th century. The architect/ builder was Fred Shereda. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Another quote from the Hanson’s page:

Bendon was a small village with a Catholic Church (Holy Trinity), rectory, dance hall, general store, saloon, and post office.  The village was named after J.L. Benda after whom the post office was first named.

Holy Trinity Church at Bendon was built 1894 and a rectory was built in 1899 at Bendon in order to attract a Czech priest.  St. Margaret’s Catholic Church, a really grand church for the area in my estimation, was built in Kimball in 1895, 14 miles northeast of Bendon.   St. Margaret’s served several nationalities unlike Holy Trinity that served a Czech congregation for the most part with services in Latin and Bohemian.  The Konechnes were participants in the building of Holy Trinity

Another page describes the congregation, and the Bendon equivalent to coffee and donuts after Mass:

Most of the people who settled in this area were Bohemian and they formed the Bohemian Western Catholic Union. John [Konechne] and his sons helped to build their beloved Holy Trinity Church at the village of Bendon. Fred Shereda was the master carpenter who directed the building. He also directed the building of St. Precopious Church at Red Lake. The church was completed in 1893 and it was here that the family spent Sundays. First Mass, then a potluck dinner, then the ladies to the Benda’s general store, the men to Stan Zingler’s saloon. In the afternoon a ball game in the pasture to the east. Three characteristics dominant in the Bohemian people were their love of music, love of art, and their strong faith.

Brule County is in the Diocese of Rapid City. The church at Bendon doesn’t show up in the diocesan list of parishes. It isn’t affiliated with the Brule County towns of Chamberlain, Kimball, or Pukwana.  It appears that the only Holy Trinity in the Diocese is now in Huron. Holy Trinity in Bendon is just off I-90 near Kimball, and seems to be used now as a museum. The Holy Trinity Cemetery in Bendon seems to be the only active part of the old parish.

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WSJ: Two Churches by Duncan Stroik

In today’s Wall Street Journal (Thursday 18 March 2010), a review of two recent church projects designed by Duncan Stroik. Here are a few excerpts:

Two Churches by Duncan Stroik

A look at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Thomas Aquinas College chapel.

View Slideshow

River Architects

A Return to Grace

By CATESBY LEIGH

La Crosse, Wis. and Santa Paula, Calif.

Though its documents say nothing about abandoning traditional Roman Catholic architecture, the “spirit” of the Second Vatican Council has served as justification for doing precisely that. Hence, for example, the Catholic cathedrals in Los Angeles and Oakland, Calif., erected during the past decade—the one a concrete behemoth, the other a glazed, truncated cone. Is ersatz-traditional schlock the only alternative?

The answer is no, as two new churches designed by Duncan Stroik, a 48-year-old, Yale-educated professor at Notre Dame’s architecture school, powerfully attest. As a designer, lecturer and founding editor of the journal Sacred Architecture, Mr. Stroik has labored long and hard to reconnect Catholic artistic patronage with its ancient heritage.

Mr. Stroik’s Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, outside the small Mississippi River city of La Crosse, and his chapel for Thomas Aquinas College, northwest of Los Angeles, employ a complex high-classical architectural vocabulary. But they resonate in very different ways; each feels unique. Each also reflects the vision of a hands-on client. In the case of the shrine, which was finished in 2008, that client was Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, formerly bishop of La Crosse and now prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, making him the Vatican’s highest judge after the pope. With the chapel, the client was Thomas Aquinas College’s president, Thomas Dillon, who was killed in a car accident weeks after the building’s dedication in March 2009.

Outside, the shrine is a simple, handsome domed building with a tall campanile, set in a little piazza that was carved out of a wooded hillside. La Crosse architect Michael Swinghamer took Mr. Stroik’s exterior concept in a rustic direction, cladding the church mainly in quarry-faced Wisconsin fieldstone. This leaves the visitor unprepared for the splendor of the nave and sanctuary. Here Mr. Stroik has successfully orchestrated a hierarchy of scales in form and space that includes the majestic crossing and apse; the great piers supporting the dome; the pilasters carrying a massive, uninterrupted entablature; the gorgeous baldachin looming over the main altar—and so on down the line.

While the disconnect between the shrine’s exterior and interior is hardly a fatal flaw, Mr. Stroik’s Thomas Aquinas College chapel, beautifully situated in the foothills of the Los Padres National Forest, does benefit from its stylistic unity. Slightly smaller than the shrine, the chapel is also a domed structure cruciform in plan. Aisle arcades are supported by columns, not piers. The chapel’s exterior and interior palette is largely monochrome—white stucco or plaster walls with detail in off-white or pale hues. The main entrance is configured as a triumphal arch within an elaborate facade centerpiece articulated in limestone. From the flanking three-tiered, 135-foot-tall Spanish baroque tower, bells call the college’s 350 students to Mass three times daily.

Inside, the focus is once again on a baldachin. In this instance, swirling bronze Solomonic columns and an exuberant superstructure were inspired by Bernini’s baldachin at St. Peter’s. Otherwise the decorative program for the interior is much simpler than at the shrine, and the visitor experiences a harmonious fusion of Brunelleschi with Mission style. Given the interior’s natural daytime luminosity, Dillon and Mr. Stroik decided to dispense with traditional lighting fixtures to save money. The interior is “uplit” from hidden lights atop a lofty cornice. But a recessed bank of spotlights in the sanctuary vault too easily catches the eye from the altar rail.

Shafphoto.com
Thomas Aquinas College chapel.

The $23 million chapel—the shrine’s price tag is not available—conveys a robust sense of mass due to an astute combination of reinforced concrete block with steel framing in its construction. And both churches make extensive use of structural as well as material illusion to cut costs. Leaving aside the pilasters adorning them, the seemingly massive piers of the shrine’s aisle arcades are essentially hollow—consisting of plaster mounted on stud walls separated from steel columns by large cavities, the latter making room for ductwork. The chapel belltower and its architectural detail are painted, prefabricated aluminum. Unlike their

Mastering the classical architectural vocabulary, as Mr. Stroik has done, is hard. But these important churches serve as a timely reminder that mastering the classical representation of the human figure is harder still.

Mr. Leigh writes about public art and architecture for the Journal.

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Architecture 101: 1400 Years as a Catholic Church

Thanks to Thomas Peters at American Papist, here is a great video of a Mass held last year at a church in Rome. But this is not just any church, and not just any occasion. This is a Solemn High Mass celebrated in the Pantheon of Rome to celebrate the 1400th anniversary of its consecration as a Catholic Church in 609AD. Wikipedia reports that “In 609 the Byzantine emperor Phocas gave the building to Pope Boniface IV, who converted it into a Christian church and consecrated it to Santa Maria ad Martyres, now known as Santa Maria dei Martiri.”

609 AD is 908 years before Martin Luther nailed up his 95 Theses, 924 years before Henry VIII broke with the Church because of Anne Boleyn, and 1221 years before Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Architectural Notes:

The Roman Pantheon is the largest unreinforced solid concrete dome in the world. The Pantheon’s dome is the largest surviving dome from antiquity; it was also the largest dome in the world until Brunelleschi built the dome of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, the Cathedral (Duomo) of Florence in 1436.

Agrippa, the son-in-law of the Roman Emperor Augustus, built the first Pantheon in 27 B.C. The words “M. AGRIPPA L. F. COS. TERTIUM FECIT” which is translated, “Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, in his third consulate, made it.”, are carved in stone above the entrance. The original Pantheon burned in the great Roman fire of 80 AD, and was rebuilt by Emperor Domitian. In 110 AD it was struck by lightning, burned down, and was rebuilt by order of the Emperor Hadrian. About 100 years later, it was refurbished for the first time.

Floor plan of the Pantheon. Image in the public domain.

The floor plan (above) is a rotunda fronted by a pillared portico. The  pillars are hewn from Egyptian granite.  Because the height of the rotunda from the floor to the top of its dome matches its diameter, the internal geometry of the rotunda makes a perfect sphere. The builders used the heaviest concrete at the base,  and lighter concrete made with pumice at the top. The concrete was packed into form, giving the inside of the dome the look it has today. The Roman concrete recipe called for much less water than modern mixes. This difference is one reason scholars suggest for the longevity of the building.

Over the years, the Pantheon has directly or indirectly inspired many notable buildings: the US Capitol in Washington D.C.; Holy Trinity Church in Karlskrona Sweden; The Assumption Church in Puławy, Poland; Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia; and the Great Dome of Killian Court at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  As a church for over 1400 year, the Pantheon/Church of St. Mary and the Martyrs has inspired many more.

Sources and Resources:

1. Great Buildings – The Pantheon
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Pantheon.html

2. Wikipedia – The Pantheon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheon,_Rome

3. Monolithic – The Pantheon:
http://www.monolithic.com/stories/the-pantheon-rome-126-ad

4. RomanConcrete – The Pantheon (has a great photos section):
http://www.romanconcrete.com/docs/chapt01/chapt01.htm

UPDATE: See more of the Architecture 101 topics here:

• Sacred Architecture for Dummies
• Built of Living Stones
• Romans, New Romans, Goths and Pearls
• Romanesque, Sant’Ambrosio
• CAD and ChurchBuilder
• Eight Historic Italian Churches
• The Tympanum
• The Nave

Basilica di

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Architecture 101: Nave

nave (nāv) noun In religious architecture, the part of a church between the side aisles, extending from the chancel to the principal entrance, thereby forming the main part of the building.

NOT

Images of the Holy Trinity Nave:

Nave Records (according to Wikipedia)

• Longest nave in England: St Albans Cathedral, St Albans (Anglican), 350 ft.
• Longest nave in France: Bourges Cathedral, 300 ft, including choir where a crossing would be if there were transepts.
• Longest nave in Germany: Cologne cathedral, 190 ft, including two bays between the towers.
• Longest nave in Italy: St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, 300 ft, in four bays.
• Longest nave in Spain: Seville, 200 ft, in five bays.
• Longest nave in the United States: Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York City (Episcopal), 230 ft.
• Highest vaulted nave: Beauvais Cathedral, France, 160 ft high but only one bay of the nave was actually built but choir and transepts were completed to the same height.
• Highest completed nave: Rome, St. Peter’s, Italy, 150 ft high.
• Highest completed vaulted nave: Cathedral of Milan, Italy, 150 ft high.

UPDATE: More Architecture 101 here:

• Sacred Architecture for Dummies
• Inside your Church (Parts of a Church)
• Built of Living Stones
• Romans, New Romans, Goths and Pearls
• Romanesque, Sant’Ambrosio
• CAD and ChurchBuilder
• Eight Historic Italian Churches
• The Tympanum
• 1400 Years as a Catholic Church

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Architecture 101: The Tympanum

Tympanum n., pl. -na [Medieval Latin, from Latin, drum, from Greek tumpanon.] In Architecture:
a. The ornamental recessed space or panel enclosed by the cornices of a triangular pediment.
b. A similar space between an arch and the lintel of a portal or window.

Our new design has three new spaces that we can consider a tympanum. We’re fortunate that we have many examples from history of how various architects/artists filled the space above the doors.

Here are a few examples from classic architecture.

Tympanum of the central bay at the Royal portal of Chartres Cathedral:

The Last Judgment, from the west portal of St. Lazare, Autun, France:

The Last Judgment, from St. Denis, France:

St. Marks, Venice, Italy:

Saint Mark’s, Philadelphia, USA:

Portal of St. Mark's in Philadelphia

Wikipedia has a few more examples here:

UPDATE: More Architecture 101 here:

• Sacred Architecture for Dummies
• Inside your Church (Parts of a Church)
• Built of Living Stones
• Romans, New Romans, Goths and Pearls
• Romanesque, Sant’Ambrosio
• CAD and ChurchBuilder
• Eight Historic Italian Churches
• The Nave
• 1400 Years as a Catholic Church

Read Full Post »

ArchitectColorado 2: Holy Trinity Renovation

The summer 2009 issue of ArchitectColorado includes two features on projects at Holy Trinity. ArchitectColorado is the professional journal of the Colorado Component of the American Institute of Architects. Our architect, Adam Hermanson is a member of the AIA. This issue has a focus on religious architecture. Holy Trinity and Integration Design Group are featured in two articles.

The second article is in the On The Boards section, by author Mary Lou Jay.  Jay highlights four current design projects. Two projects are Catholic churches (us and Holy Name in Steamboat Springs) and two projects are in Westminster (us and Westminster Church of the Nazarene.) The other project is the Boulder Jewish Commons, a future campus development on the east side of Boulder. With our completion date of 2010, the Holy Trinity project is farthest along.

Here is the part of the article referencing the new Holy Trinity remodeling project:

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Excerpt: ArchitectColorado, Volume 5, Issue 1, p 45:

Holy Trinity Church

OntheBoards

INTEGRATION DESIGN GROUP, Architect: Adam Hermanson, AIA Location: Westminster, Colorado Client: Holy Trinity Catholic Church/ Archdiocese of Denver Construction Cost: $2 million Scope: 2,000-square-foot narthex addition, new bell tower, entry plaza, addition of clerestory roof and windows and complete interior renovation. Purpose: Accommodate needs of growing church Completion: April 2010

As the community of Holy Trinity Catholic Church approaches its 50-year jubilee, it is preparing to expand the church to accommodate a growth in parishioner families. In 1959, when parish members built the current church building, they intended to use it as the church only until a new one could be built. The original building would then become the school gymnasium. The separate church was never built, so for 50 years the parish has continued to use the original building as its worship space. To raise the stature and nobility of the church, the parish is moving forward with an addition and complete renovation of the building. Integration Design Group has worked with the parish to develop the design over the past several months. The project will include a new prominent entrance into a larger narthex at the west front of the church, surmounted by a cross to be salvaged from the existing steeple; a new choir loft; a new area of raised roof with clerestory windows; a completely remodeled sanctuary; and new liturgical elements and furnishings throughout. The community hopes to include a new bell tower in the project as well. The addition and renovation will encourage a greater sense of the sacred, both on the exterior and interior of the church. Integration Design Group is providing design services for not only the architectural aspects, but also the complete interior design and finish package; the artwork and furniture design and procurement; and the design of the liturgical elements, including altars, tabernacle canopy, ambo, baptismal font, baldachino and altar rail.

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Architect Adam Hermanson is a member of the AIA. The Colorado Component of the American Institute of Architects can be found at www.aiacolorado.org. Click the link for the order form to order your copy of ArchitectColorado.

An excerpt from the first article from ArchitectColorado on “A Shared Vision of the Sacred” by Chryss Cada can be found here: ArchitectColorado 1: Holy Trinity’s Adoration Chapel.

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ArchitectColorado 1: Holy Trinity’s Adoration Chapel

The summer 2009 issue of ArchitectColorado includes two features on projects at Holy Trinity. ArchitectColorado is the professional journal of the Colorado Component of the American Institute of Architects. This issue has a focus on religious architecture. Holy Trinity and Integration Design Group are featured in two articles.

The first article is “A Shared Vision of the Sacred” by Chryss Cada. Cada covers three religious projects that involved many different decision makers. Cada starts with this quote:

Any architect who has worked with more than one owner on a project knows how difficult it can be to form a shared vision, so imagine the task when there are several hundred opinions to take into account.

Here is the part of the article referencing Holy Trinity’s Chapel:

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Excerpt: Architect Colorado, Volume 5, Issue 1, pp 14 – 16:

A Shared Vision of the Sacred

HOLY TRINITY ADORATION CHAPEL

Knowledge of a faith’s religious practices is often a major consideration in selection of an architect for a house of worship.Father John Hilton was specifically looking for a “great Catholic architect” for the remodel of the Holy Trinity Adoration Chapel at his Westminster, Colo., church. “Asking someone who doesn’t go to Mass, who doesn’t worship at a Catholic Church, to design a Catholic chapel would be like asking a Christian to design a mosque,” he said. “The architect needs to be familiar with what the building he designs is going to be used for.” The contract for the $200,000 remodel of the 1,000-square-foot chapel was awarded to Henderson, Colo.-based  Integration Design Group, PC. This was the firm’s first religious architecture venture. “It is our hope that religious architecture will remain the central focus of our firm in the years ahead,” said Adam Hermanson, AIA, principal at Integration Design Group. “These buildings carry great significance for those who come to worship within them, and the design of sacred architecture is one way in which we serve both God and God’s people. Hermanson, the project architect, had worked on several other churches during his design career prior to founding Integration Design Group in 2006. “A lot of people see only the challenges of religious architecture because the opportunities aren’t as apparent,” Hermanson said. “But growth well done can enhance the spiritual life of a congregation. What we’re actually doing when we work on a church is to help build up the community.” Hermanson said attendance and membership often increase in a new or remodeled building. That has been the case at the renovated Adoration Chapel at Holy Trinity. Built in the 1960s as part of a convent, the chapel was very simple. Holy Trinity Catholic Church first approached the firm to design a new altar for the exposition and adoration of the Eucharist. The project developed from an altar design into a complete renovation of the chapel.Design elements include a new carved limestone and travertine altar, red onyx niches and a wood and stone altar rail. The finishes were selected to complement two icons in the chapel written by a parishioner trained in the authentic egg tempera method. “I gave them very general ideas, such as wanting it to be noble, prayerful and exemplify a rich dignified beauty, and he took it from there,” Hilton said. “I was brought in at every stage of the project for back-and-forth discussions.” Integration Design Group is now the architect for the $2.5 million renovation of Holy Trinity’s main church. A town hall approach is being used to incorporate parishioners’ opinions into the renovation. “The town hall meetings are very enjoyable because you can feel the excitement in the community as they work together to articulate their vision for their church,” Hermanson said. “There’s no other space besides a family’s home that brings with it such a powerful sense of ownership.”

Architect: INTEGRATION DESIGN GROUP, PC – Adam Hermanson, AIA Location: Westminster, Colorado Construction Cost: $190,000.00 Scope: Project included a complete interior renovation including: tile flooring; lighting; finishes; stone altar; stone and wood altar rail; new HVAC system; and new accessible restroom. Exterior modifications included: new roof; accessibility improvements, entrance door and window replacements. Completion: May 2008 Owner: Holy Trinity Catholic Church Contractor: RN Fenton Company Electrical Engineer: Architectural Engineering Design Group, Inc. Mechanical Engineer: Integrated Mechanical Systems, Inc. Other Notable Projects by INTEGRATION DESIGN GROUP, PC: Holy Trinity Catholic Church – Addition & Renovation (current) Westminster, Colo. Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church – Liturgical Elements Design (complete) Northglenn, Colo. Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church – New Church (current) (local consulting architect) Windsor, Colo. Fellowship of Catholic University Students – Office Chapel (complete) Northglenn, Colo.

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Other buildings featured in this article include the Aish Ahavas Synagogue in Greenwood Village, Colorado, and the Buckley Air Force Base Chapel Center.

The Colorado Component of the American Institute of Architects can be found at www.aiacolorado.org.  Click the link for the order form to order your copy of ArchitectColorado.

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Architecture: Cool Sand Castles (and Churches)

It is summertime – the best time to build sand castles. Popular Mechanics has a photo essay on some of the best sand structures built in the last year. This church is impressive:Click the image to see other winners.

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