Mater Dei Catholic Church
Mater Dei Catholic Church
Work requires skill. With skill and experience comes the notion of craftsmanship; work done very well. When the work lifts the spirit, moves the heart and opens the mind to avenues of thought; that is Art.
The new Church for Mater Dei Catholic Parish in Chula Vista has a wonderful symbiosis of Art and Architecture. The themes for the project are based in its titular; Mater Dei, which means Mary the Mother of God. Architecturally, the arced seating around a centralized Altar, as well as the asymmetrical curving ceilings are meant to symbolize the warm embrace of Mary nurturing the congregation. The Art on the Main door to the Church, which is liturgically significant as a ‘Welcome to All’ in the Catholic tradition, has a carved depiction of Mary with a representation of all of the world’s people being embraced in her tunic. The models for the faces of the world’s people in this piece are actual members of the congregation.
The original campus was completed in 2010. The Church is the final portion of their Master Plan. It is located so that it frames a courtyard and connections with the other existing structures on the site. The hilltop site offered opportunities to be both a beacon in the community and for the worship space to open to the distant ocean and sunset views. These large expanses of glass are protected by deep overhangs, soffits and other active shading devices. The SW view also has a unique curved Chapel space that serves as a focal point of this public side of the structure. This Chapel is for private, daily devotion and adoration. There is a tower on the Campus side with a large cross and reconditioned bell that calls the community to Mass. The bell was reconditioned form a demolished church in Unionville Connecticut in built in 1886.
The composition of the building is made up of cascading horizontal rooflines. Between the rooflines, there are clerestory windows to allow discrete, controlled light. The strongest of these elements is over the center aisle of the Church, allowing natural light to penetrate deep into the space, articulating the main axis and offering a detail of backlighting of the perforated celling.
The Artwork was prepared by Artesanos Don Bosco from Peru. Their liturgical Art is inspired by the New Testament and uses rich and elegant materials. The Reredos, the wall behind the Altar, is a mosaic of stone, glass and gold that symbolized the power of the Holy Spirit wrapping the Tabernacle, wherein the sanctified Eucharist is held. The Baptismal font is a single 5,000# carved Peruvian Huancayo travertine. The water flowing from the upper vessel symbolizes the Living Waters of Christ, and the mosaic in the bottom too symbolizes the vortex of energy from the Holy Spirit blessing those who are immersed into the Church through Baptism.
The Art and Architecture were both developed in concert under the direction of the Parish’s Pastor and Building committee. The goals for designing a place of worship should always be to remove ones perception out of the secular world and lift the spirit in preparation for Christ’s message. The Art and Architecture work together to create this transformation of experience, lifting of the Spirit..
Sacred Heart Catholic Parish, Coronado, CA
Sacred Heart Catholic Parish
The Sanctuary at Sacred Heart Catholic Church was designed by Irving Gill and dedicated in 1920. The project improves the rest of the campus facilities, while respecting the historically designated church. The project added a new Parish Hall, Chapel and renovated Parish Offices, all fronting onto an arcade wrapped central courtyard on a very tight site in Coronado, CA. It was paramount that the fabric of the historic church be preserved and not detracted from, and that creative solutions were sought to bring light into the space. The new facilities took ques from Gill’s building color, materials, and subtle ornamentation. Additionally, the improvements maintained the visual hierarchy of Gill’s church. The courtyard is purposefully clean, simple and unadorned to respect its context. It embraces the southern California climate and serves as an unencumbered outdoor gathering space that is often enjoyed by families during outdoor worship experiences.
A focal point of the courtyard, the new Chapel invites visitors and creates a connection among the buildings on campus. The Chapel interior uses natural light and stained glass to create an ethereal effect of the ascendency of God and religion, while still maintaining privacy. The lower windows lift the space and block the view of the adjacent alley, and the simple gabled roofline floats over 360-degree clerestory windows, drawing eyes up to heaven. Inside of the Chapel is a simple, flexible Worship space for 50 occupants. A Tabernacle, crafted by Artesanos Don Bosco, serves for all day adoration as well as daily Mass. The Tabernacle is flanked by two tapestries of St. Francis and St. Claire de Asis, crafted by Slabbinck. The Simple Crucifix, Altar, and Ambo, also artfully fabricated by Artesanos Don Bosco, are made from cherry wood. The flooring in the Chapel was salvaged, cleaned, and repurposed from the old original church, moved onto the site in the late 1800’s.
The new Parish Hall fronts onto the courtyard and is tucked into the rear corner of the site, to not compete with the massing of the Church. The Parish Hall will seat 230 for banquets, is divisible for smaller group use and has a stage with full A/v appointment to support both Parish and the adjacent Parochial elementary school programs. There is a full service kitchen, new sound and data system for the campus as well as solar panels to complete the features of the Hall.
Nipaquay Elementary
Nipaquay Elementary
Working closely with San Diego Unified School District’s facility and planning staff, Nipaquay Elementary School’s campus was based on flexibility and connectivity. Entering at the welcome center, the design extends directly to a new ‘maker space’ and library/media center, where new curriculum hinges on technological integration and student exchange. Each classroom was built on a module that could connect to an exterior classroom/shared workspace where student and teacher collaboration could capitalize on the consistency of San Diego outdoor weather and connect to the adjacent park and play areas. Intended as a hub for the community’s youth, the design blends directly into the park, offering walking and bicycling access directly to the site. Solar panels and other sustainable strategies were architecturally integrated into the campus, with a respect towards optimizing student awareness of energy use and making the buildings an integral part of the teaching pedagogy.
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Newport Beach, CA
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
Together with St. Andrew’s we embarked on a journey exploring “extreme hospitality” and created outdoor and indoor spaces to belong that feels more like home to those who are already there and becomes a place of belonging for many families in the community who don’t yet call it home. Collaboratively, we transformed their campus creating a seven day-a-week destination. They realized that “…a stinging critique of most churches is that most coffee shops feel more welcoming than a church campus”. Reversing this trend is important for reaching the next generation, which has reported that, when it comes to their faith and spirituality, they are looking for a place to “belong”, before they decide they are ready to “believe.” We exposed a buried basement and created a multi-level exciting campus, which reinforces interaction between the old and young, the new and lifelong members. The grade change allowed for an amphitheater and a new central campus water wall. We created a variety of exterior seating nodes for one-on-one conversations and for small group meeting spaces. The entry doors to the Narthex were eliminated and replaced with an operable glass wall system able to open and connect the interior to the exterior spaces, but more importantly, removing the barrier which many find hard to cross. Lastly, a corner indoor-outdoor café serves as the hub of the campus not only on Sundays, but the parents of preschoolers, staff, visitors and students (from the high school across the street) also use it daily, fulfilling the goal of the project.
Christ Presbyterian Church, Carlsbad, CA
Christ Presbyterian Church
For nearly three decades, Christ Presbyterian Church worshiped in a Fellowship Hall with dreams of one day building a Sanctuary. Rather than building new, we teamed with the committee to remodel the existing Fellowship Hall into a beautiful worship space which still meets the needs of a multi-purpose space used for social events. The committee had approached domus on a simple interior remodel, but domus lead them to think past the interior walls and open up the space to the community, removing the traditional threshold which many new visitors find difficult to cross. A new social patio greets worshipers and provides a space for chance encounters and social ministries. The result is people hang out longer between and after services! Bi-fold doors removed the barrier separating the indoors from the outdoors and provides flex space for additional seating or simply for improved flow. Inside, an interior fused glass art panel and new central skylight created by renowned Judson Studios provides a focal point and hierarchy in the space. Wood was introduced throughout the space to make it warm and inviting and improved lighting and fresh paint colors brightened the space. The design has exceeded the churches expectations and motivated generous giving as well!
South Mission Beach Lifeguard Tower
South Mission Beach Lifeguard Tower
In 1978, the city constructed a temporary wooden lifeguard tower at South Mission Beach. The replacement tower had been in the works for over 15 years and was completed in 2019. In addition to the 30’ observation tower, the new facility was designed to ensure public safety and quick response times from lifeguards to those in need. The narrow building design minimize view blockage to the ocean from the boardwalk and existing homes, but efficiently houses everything the lifeguards need to serve the public from first aid, to communication of dangerous rip currents and ocean dangers. Public art was incorporated into the design with cast in place “beach cottages” to cap the erosion control barrier which extends down 40’, mimicking the houses that line the boardwalk. The building is constructed out of cast-in-place concrete with a copper fascia in order to withstand the harsh ocean environment and blends in with the beach sand in order to minimize the public’s visual impact for a necessary structure that ideally would not be there.
Congregation shir ha-ma’alot
Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’alot
In 1994, Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’Alot moved into their existing two-story, 27,200 square-foot building, a remodeled 24 Hour Fitness facility. The structure included a 2,375 square-foot main sanctuary, social hall, classrooms, and administrative uses. In 2015, domusstudio architecture assisted them in a Master Plan to renovate and expand the existing building to meet the growing needs of its congregation. The overarching goal was to provide a ‘sanctuary for their congregation’ when they entered the campus. The site plan was completely reconfigured to create a layout more conducive to current operations. The newly constructed one-story 12,400 square feet building addition includes new administrative offices, approximately 2,800 square feet of worship space with 250 fixed seats, expandable into the adjacent 3,900 square feet social hall for larger events. The Sanctuary and Social Hall would open out to a new covered Gallery and beyond to a new outdoor courtyard, with operable glass walls, allowing for additional expansion of large events and providing an immediate relationship between indoor and outdoor space. The existing two-story building was renovated to house their educational programs and Hebrew School, to include Classrooms, Offices, and a new 935 square-foot Chapel (occupying a portion of their original Sanctuary space), to be used for specialized services (e.g., bar/bat mitzvahs, and small service events). Associated site improvements included open and secured parking with EV charging stations, youth play areas, and a future Biblical garden.
domusstudio architecture
domusstudio architecture
In 1963, renowned San Diego Modernist Architect Homer Delawie, A.I.A. designed the Brandon-Beaver Building, located at 2800 Third Avenue in Bankers Hill. The medical office building was poised on the edge of Maple canyon with prominent views across the historic 1911 First Avenue Bridge, where it served the community for over 50 years. Over time, the building was infilled, overgrown with vegetation and became a visual blockage from the neighborhood to the canyon beyond. The building looked abandoned and the grounds became a hangout for drug dealers and the homeless community. After several failed attempts by developers to purchase, demolish, and develop the site, in 2017, the Partners of domusstudio purchased and renovated the building with the goal of maintaining the neighborhood scale.
While preserving the Mid-Century Modern Architecture, the new building achieves a sense of transparency. Interior walls were removed and windows were added to each side to provide clear views from the public street front through to the canyon. In addition to becoming the new home for domusstudio, the repurposed building has revitalized the neighborhood at the end of Third and Olive. From the bridge view, the structure has visually lightened its footprint by painting the base dark, giving the illusion that the building is floating over the canyon. It’s not often that a building project subtracts, rather than adds to the built environment.
On the building interior, the structural steel and wood framed building was creatively exposed, revealing the truthfulness of materials and establishing the building aesthetic. Minimal walls were added back in, along with glass partitions, to enclose conference spaces while not sacrificing any canyon views. A grid of work tables was added creating an open, collaborative, and inspiring space for domusstudio architecture to serve their clients. On the exterior, the former concrete front yard was returned to nature through the use of native grasses, extending the canyon up and enveloping the building within the canyon.
San Dieguito United Methodist Church
San Dieguito United Methodist Church
Provide Focus! That was our first response when asked by the church to design the remodel of their sanctuary interior. The existing 10-sided space had grown organically over its life, with organ pipes and chancel decorations added as donors stepped forward. Our goal was to bring hierarchy and simplicity, provide visual resolution and add verticality to an otherwise horizontal space.
The curved slotted wood ‘Flame’, a reference to the Methodist symbol, provides verticality and lifts the eye toward the skylight and heaven.
The existing organ pipes were haphazard, creating visual noise. The solution covered the pipes on the right with a permanent acoustic project screen and quiets the ones on the left with acoustic fabric and painted wood baffles that blend with the wall color, creating an asymmetrical yet balanced composition.
The chancel and cross were brought forward in the space, providing a screen for ramp accessibility behind the short wall and additional height at the cross. Up-lighting the flame provides the highlighted backdrop to the cross. Subtle changes in material textures provide visual interest in lieu of distractions. Custom chancel furniture pieces were designed to reinforce the wood flame motif.
The ceiling was made darker and alcoves lighted to minimize contrasting shadows. These existing ceiling recesses also provided opportunities to help conceal and enhance the chancel lighting and sound system. Eliminating the large pendant light fixtures allows the eye to absorb the full volume of the space.
With a subtle transition from dark blue to a lighter blue, the carpet runner at the main aisle leads the eye to the communion table, cross and flame on its way upward. The curved chancel steps and curved pews radiate from the cross and flame, reinforcing the focal point while creating an intimate and unifying worship experience.
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