Greek Orthodox Church - AIA Honor Award

This church was designed for a small Greek American community on the central California coast.

The building site is composed of two elements essential in the Greek American Culture. A "Church" and a "Hall" as a place for gathering of social, cultural, and educational activities.

Traditional to Byzantine Architecture is an East/West axis with the alter to the East and the entrance at the West. Entering the church is a procession of worship through architecture, imagery, and light, with a spatial and spiritual hierarchy from entrance to alter, floor to ceiling, heaven to earth. The North/South axis completes the form of the crucifix and positions the hall.

The church architecture in this instance is symbolic and interpretive rather than replicated. The forms are sculpted, symmetrical, and tiered, representative of a spiritual hierarchy and trilogy. The Architect used pure, off white forms to provide a clarity, simplicity, and a visual continuity. The intent was for light to become the connection between the worshippers sense of heaven and earth, rather than structure itself. Perimeter glass floats the roof structure, without evidence of connection, creating an ethereal quality of light illuminating the passing of the day. The dome of orthodox tradition is here translated into a modern Idiom; the dome form is carved out of a cube from the interior and then inscribed by glass (curving with the dome) to form a Byzantine crucifix of light.

The Architect's intent was the source of light not be revealed, so the mystery and quality of light interfacing with the architecture would provoke spirituality, a sense of understanding, and a sense of revelation. The architecture culminates at the East, the Alter, where three Apses representing the Trinity are once again dissected with glass in the shape of a crucifix, whose form is then projected upon the Sanctuary by the easterly light.