Domus Dei: The House of God

Abstract

The architecture of Catholic church buildings has an intrinsic connection with the liturgy, theology, and tradition of the Church. Creating transcendent spaces to engage in the worship of God has been an essential part of Catholic life since the earliest days of Christendom. The questions this project seeks to address are as follows: How can the beauty of a contemporary church building signify the unchanging solemnity of Catholic worship and aid in the search for the Divine, and how can this beauty be returned to new churches in an economical way through form, current construction methods, and materials? How can these principles be applied to design a transcendent sacred space for a small parish with limited resources? This project resulted in a design solution for a new Catholic church building that incorporates each of the following design ideals: beauty, liturgy, geometry, materiality, and accessibility.