Church Architecture in My Mind

Designing a Church would really be awesome for any Architect. I, myself, have built some in my imagination and the design would be influenced mainly by my present interest incorporated.

I have thought of a Church building ala Guggenheim Museum with just a continuous ramp and a huge Crucifix at the center three storeys high. Prayer candles would surround the ramp so from the exterior it will be an array of flickering candles rising up.

Then, I also had the nature church where it would be surrounded by plants, running water, aviary. Hehe. That would be so terrible.

I had also thought of the table setting like the Last Supper and had even thought that there should be no chairs at all. Everyone should be sitting on the floor. Of course, one must also think of one's ethnicity - a Philippine architecture - with bamboos, capiz, banana motif.



That's the horrible wild imagination without knowing the GIRM, the history of Church architecture, and the rich symbolism. That's purely "me" design without consulting a priest or someone in the know.

I wouldn't really know if the modern church architecture where conceived by the architects alone given a free rein by the priests or bishops who have no time for such "trivialities". On the other hand, Mother Angelica of EWTN made sure of the design and specifications of the Church in Birmingham, Alabama. In the past, there were many priests who were also architects and artists. In one book I have read of St. John of the Cross, he also made some architectural design.

So glad that my church architectural designs remained in my imagination. Looking at the beautiful Church architectures of the past, I would be so ashamed.