St. Michael the Archangel Church - Aurora, CO
The addition to St. Michael the Archangel Church was designed according to multiple ideas. It was believed early on that the building needed to respond to multiple criteria of form and function; needed to react to multiple stimuli of climate, context, and use; and needed to satisfy a community's perceptions of beauty, assembly, and service to God. While the task of coagulating multiple images and endless profound possibilities into a single architectural entity was not necessarily a simple one, the New St. Michael the Archangel stands proudly as a renewed symbol of this parish's commitment to the worship of God.
One of the principle organizing ideas of the new "Church on the Hill" was that it present itself to its community at multiple scales and varying distances. The large sky lit form was meant to be seen from afar. It is visible as one moves towards it in anticipation of communal assembly. It is also visible as one moves through the neighborhood, while going to work, or shopping, or heading home. Whatever, the destination, the lantern of St. Michael's appears peripherally, much as the churches in the countryside did in the past with steeple, spire or rose window. It rises above the everyday, to remind us of the extraordinary presence of God.
Photos
The addition to St. Michael the Archangel Church was designed according to multiple ideas. It was believed early on that the building needed to respond to multiple criteria of form and function; needed to react to multiple stimuli of climate, context, and use; and needed to satisfy a community's perceptions of beauty, assembly, and service to God. While the task of coagulating multiple images and endless profound possibilities into a single architectural entity was not necessarily a simple one, the New St. Michael the Archangel stands proudly as a renewed symbol of this parish's commitment to the worship of God.
One of the principle organizing ideas of the new "Church on the Hill" was that it present itself to its community at multiple scales and varying distances. The large sky lit form was meant to be seen from afar. It is visible as one moves towards it in anticipation of communal assembly. It is also visible as one moves through the neighborhood, while going to work, or shopping, or heading home. Whatever, the destination, the lantern of St. Michael's appears peripherally, much as the churches in the countryside did in the past with steeple, spire or rose window. It rises above the everyday, to remind us of the extraordinary presence of God.
