Duncan G. Stroik Architect, LLC

The St. Theresa Education Centre will be the first constructed phase of a masterplan designed to revitalize the parish campus. The new building will serve this large parish in the Archdiocese of Houston in several ways. It will house a new elementary school for grades Kindergarten through Sixth grade, offices for the parish staff, and offices for catechetical education for children and adults. The two-story brick and limestone building is inspired by St. Mary’s Seminary and Ralph Adams Cram’s inventive buildings at Rice University.

The main entry is placed near the entrance to the church, and is articulated by a grand façade with rusticated brick work and arches, limestone and marble details, and inscriptions dedicating the school to St. Theresa of Lisieux. A Doric colonnade connects the main entry with the porte cochere . The main entry leads to a two-story lobby supplied with natural light from a skylight, off of which are parish offices and the school library. The lobby and halls are appointed with inscriptions and iconography of different saints for each classroom. Classrooms for Kindergarten through Second grade are found on the ground floor, and the second floor holds classrooms for Third through Sixth grade and a spacious library with mahogany bookcases surrounding the reading room.

A second phase of the project will add classrooms for pre-school and middle school, as well as classrooms for science, art, and music and additional office space. A gymnasium and refectory already exist on site.

The Shrine to the Sacred Heart was conceived by Archbishop Raymond Burke to deepen the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. After considering a number of locations, it was decided that the left transept (or arm) had an area suitable for the sacred image and would balance with the baptismal font located in the right transept. Research shows that George Barnett, the original architect for the cathedral, had the intention of placing equestrian statues of St. Louis and St. George in the transepts surrounded by bronze statues of the twelve apostles on marble pedestals. Our aim was much more modest, though no less important, to build a shrine for the image of the Sacred Heart in the mother church of the Archdiocese.

Working with His Excellency, Archbishop Burke, the rector of the Cathedral Monsignor Pins and with the able assistance of Monsignor Breier and Fr. Keller we examined the great variety of shrines and side chapels within the Cathedral. In studying this great work of architecture we were in awe of the great variety of marbles, mosaics, symbols, and architectural elements that find their place within. The focus of the new shrine of the Sacred Heart is a mosaic produced by the esteemed Mosaic Studio located at the Vatican. The mosaic is based upon an original oil painting, presumably by a Spanish artist in the Nineteenth century, owned by the Archdiocese.

The design of the shrine is free standing with a pediment to give it verticality and prominence within the colonnaded apse. A series of architectural elements act as frames that set apart and visually enlarge the three by four foot image. An arch of white carrara marble surrounds the mosaic with an image above of the crown of thorns, three nails, and cloth to allude to Christ’s suffering for humanity. The columns are like sentinels and are constructed out of diaspro marble from Sicily, a fragile and rare marble beloved by artists such as Bernini. The column capitals are composite and are inspired by the capitals at the Cathedral high altar with a cross, fleur de lis and lamb of God as part of their design.

Under the richly carved pediment, which stands twelve and a half feet above the floor, there are three circles or tondi made out of volcano red and Pakistan dark onyx with gold mosaic bands. Above the pediment are two urns (inspired by the ceiling mosaics) with flames of marble symbolizing the burning love of Christ for his children. At the apex of the shrine is a bronze and azul image of the monogram of the Holy Name or IHS surrounded by gold rays. The marble walls of the shrine are rosa portogallo with a slightly darker variant under the altar. The altar has panels of verde isorie and nuovo brocatello surrounded by bands of red mosaic and bianco carrara frames. The aisle side of the shrine has a simplified marble banding with an inlaid coat of arms of Archbishop Burke as the patron of the shrine.

The botticino classico floor matches other shrine pavements in the Cathedral and has a geometric pattern that frames the altar using statuario, portoro, rouge du roi, and giallo siena marbles. The central circle is a Star of David, remembering the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for which Christ is the completion and referring to Our Lady who is the synagogue, because she bore the Word within her. The curved altarrail of arabescato violetto creates a threshold to the shrine and provides a place to kneel and pray. The bronze doors feature bas-reliefs of a pelican feeding her young with blood from her breast, symbolic of Christ’s Eucharistic sacrifice. They complement the peacocks, symbols of immortality, at the Cathedral sanctuary.

In total, approximately thirty different marbles and onyxes, pieces that weigh up to six hundred pounds, were employed in the design to reflect the rich variety of marbles found in the Cathedral. The scagliola columns, black marble bases and warm natural colors of the transept walls, Stations of the Cross and confessionals surround the Sacred Heart Shrine. The marble fabrication and carving and the bronze casting was supervised by Roberto Pagliari in Carrara and Pietrasanta Italy. The marble, which has a concrete substructure, was erected by Chad Meyer of Stone Renaissance in St. Louis.

This is a renovation of a cruciform chapel which was built as part of a retreat center in the 1980s. The client asked that the existing nondescript chapel be transformed into a place of awe and wonder. The interior of the chapel employs Corinthian columns and pilasters of the largest possible scale (17') in order to give a sense of verticality. Corinthian is often employed in chapels dedicated to the Virgin, in honor of her beauty and holiness. The sanctuary is articulated by two steps and two low marble walls with bas reliefs. The ambo is integrated into the left wall. A Composite baldachino out of marble and bronze surrounds the altar. The Tabernacle is within the wall and becomes identified and integrated with the central painting of the Annunciation. Life size saints are on the paintings to either side, as well as in small shrine areas which would function well for prayer and private devotion (i.e. St. Therese and St. Francis). A small organ could be placed in the transept, which would also be used for overflow seating. A ceiling would be added in the two transepts with curved openings to bring in light and allow any stained glass to be seen from the nave. The existing soffits over the transepts would be hidden by decorative panels, brackets, and paintings similar to many churches in Rome. The overall effect is one of beauty, harmony and transcendence.

This is a reinstatement of confessionals at the entrance of the St. Joseph Chapel in the St. Louis Archdiocesan Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. Without any documentation of the original design, we attempted a creative reconstruction in the original location using the original doors and end panels. Fluted Doric pilasters support a pediment with oval escutcheons of the Holy Spirit and St. Peter’s keys. The Latin inscriptions in the frieze state “Accipite Spiritum Sanctum” on the left and are continued on the right with “Quorum Remiseritis Peccata Remissa Sunt Eis.” The traditional configuration has a movable screen allowing the seminarians to go behind the screen or face to face. The stained oak matches the original pieces and carved violets, symbolic of penitence, are placed in the frieze.

St. Paul the Apostle Church is located prominently on East Main Street in downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina. Spartanburg has a large number of fine churches to which the parish wanted to add while offering a particularly Catholic vision of the house of God.

The design for the church of St. Paul uses a traditional architectural style and configuration that is reflective of the Catholic faith and heritage. It is modeled on the broad tradition of Catholic architecture in the United States as well as on Lombard Romanesque architecture. The new 1000 seat church will incorporate forms and symbols that make it unmistakably a Catholic church.

As a house of prayer, the exterior will be welcoming, ennobling, and exude a sense of reverence. The church is located so as to create a plaza in the front and a prominent entrance along East Main Street. The new church, trees, and East Main Street will define the new plaza. As a liturgical building, the exterior plaza will serve as a site for the Easter fire, for outdoor prayer services, and for processions. The plaza will become an outdoor gathering space as well providing a drop-off location near the entry to the church. A small garden and shrine to St. Francis is placed near the entrance to the property.

As an image of the eternal, the church will be constructed out of timeless materials such as brick with stone accents. Front stairs and a ramp lead up to a raised terrace and a welcoming porch (inspired by the early Christian prothyron) with a bas-relief of the conversion of St. Paul over the main entry. Statues of Saints Peter and Paul on the side bays, along with the following quotes from scripture, will greet all those who enter:

Above statue of Peter: And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. — Matthew 16

Above statue of Paul: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? — First Corinthians 10

Above the porch is a rose window or wheel surrounded by symbols of the four evangelists, while the façade is crowned by an image of the Virgin and Child and a cross.

The generous narthex is a place of preparation with views into the nave. It will double as a cry room and connects to stairs, bathrooms, and an elevator. Above the narthex is a choir loft with provision for a future organ.

The nave is in the style of a Roman basilica with side aisles defined by Corinthian arcades. Confessionals will be placed near the beginning of the side aisles symbolic of the process of repentance and forgiveness on our journey toward the Eucharist. The interior will focus on the altar as the place of sacrifice and communion. A tester or canopy hovers over the altar while a prominent tabernacle will indicate the central mystery of faith and reaffirm the building as a Eucharistic house. The longitudinal nave will exemplify the journey of faith with Stations of the Cross along the side aisles. As a transcendent place, the interior will soar upwards with a vaulted ceiling and heavenly light will flood the nave through the side and rose windows. Devotional areas with a painting or statue, and a place to light a candle and pray will be provided. As the main focus and symbol of heaven, the sanctuary will be raised on steps, framed by a triumphal arch with a solid floor and paneled wood walls. A large wood ambo for proclaiming and preaching the Word of God will be decorated with symbols of the four evangelists or scriptural narratives. A smaller lectern for the cantor balances it.

The building is to be constructed with a steel frame and concrete masonry infill above a concrete foundation, brick and stone exterior veneer walls, and steel roof trusses. The interior materials will be predominantly wood and plaster with tile floors in the nave and marble floors in the sanctuary. Parking is provided adjacent to the church and along the street. A drop-off in the front and sidewalks lead to the main entry as well as entrances on each side.

A Marian garden behind the church featuring a statue, fountain, and plantings provides a place of prayer and tranquility. Tree lined walks connect the church to the existing school and parish center. Future phases may include a bell tower and transepts to increase seating capacity.

This is a family chapel dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and located on a ranch near Lubbock, Texas. The building is simple in form, elegant in proportion and inspiring for prayer. The chapel’s exterior walls are Texas cream limestone with a rough finish. The stone lintel of the doors is inscribed with the name of the chapel and above it there is a bas relief of the four evangelists. A small plaza creates a forecourt to the chapel and provides a gathering space with planting and a statue of the Sacred Heart. The interior is a barrel vaulted nave focusing on a semicircular apse. The nave is 28'-6" in length, 16'-0" in width and 16'-0" in height and provides seating for 36 people. The interior walls are painted plaster with a wood baseboard and cornice. Six half circular windows bring light from above and also provide natural ventilation. A wooden altar rail and step help to define the sanctuary which has a wood high altar with columns framing an image of the Sacred Heart. There are shrines to the Blessed Virgin and to Saint Joseph on either side of the triumphal arch with areas to light candles and pray. The floor is a Mexican tile and the sanctuary is of marble tile.

The design for the campus of the Mission of Divine Mercy near San Antonio, Texas includes two cloisters, a refectory, apostolic hall, guesthouse, and a chapel. The campus is designed in the Mission style.

This new commercial headquarters for a Midwest software company is located in downtown Maysville, Kentucky and is directly adjacent to the Ohio River. The building is the first step in the redevelopment of downtown Maysville and will set the standard for future buildings. A small parking garage and an English pub occupy the rusticated base. The ground floor will include shops and a cafe. The sloping site allows views to the river from the cafe patio located on the ground floor. The upper three floors will house office, lecture, conference, and exhibition spaces for the software company. The building is inspired by French Parisian architecture. The building will be constructed with solid masonry walls composed of brick and a limestone facing.

The expansion and renovation of the Church of the Annunciation will serve a parish that is outgrowing its current church that was built in the late 1990s. The addition to the church will add another bay to the nave and a new sanctuary. The remainder of the church will be renovated to a more traditional appearance based on the Florentine Renaissance. The expanded church will seat approximately six hundred fifty.

The renovation of a restaurant garden patio located in Maysville, Kentucky is currently under construction. The project includes a new facade for an existing garage and studio apartment building and a new garden patio featuring carved limestone walls, hand-crafted wrought iron gates, and a central fountain.

This is a renovation of the sanctuary of a large parish church in the Archdiocese of Houston. A new sanctuary is designed around a triumphal arch motif that also becomes a baldacchino over the marble altar. The polychromed Corinthian columns give a monumental scale to this large church and help to focus on three sacramental elements: the altar, tabernacle, and crucifix above. To either side, the smaller archways highlight the ambo and the priest’s chair. A new organ and organ screen flanks the sanctuary and provides a location for devotional statues. Coats of arms of the Archdiocese and the Bishop of Rome are placed above.

Designed to accommodate a growing family and large gatherings, this 1930s style bungalow is shaped to take advantage of the sloping site. Three floors featuring five bedrooms, a two story tall living area, a spacious kitchen, entertainment areas, and an outdoor terrace were the key to meeting both challenges. The American bungalow style featuring modest details allows this home to express quality and craftsmanship in a setting in the Michigan countryside.

The design for St. Mark Church uses a traditional architectural style and configuration that is reflective of the Catholic faith and heritage. It is modeled on the broad tradition of Catholic architecture in the United States as well as churches dedicated to St. Mark in Venice, Florence and Rome.

The new 1400 seat church, along with the parish center and school, are conceived as a city on a hill. St. Mark Church will incorporate the forms and the symbols that make it unmistakably a Catholic church. As an image of the eternal, it will be constructed out of timeless and low maintenance materials, such as brick, stone, and wood. As a Gate of triumph and a sacred place, it will have a large front portico and vertical proportions. As a liturgical building, the exterior plaza will serve as a site for the Easter fire, for outdoor prayer services, and for processions. As a house of prayer, the exterior and the narthex will be welcoming, ennobling, and exude a sense of reverence. An inscription over the front door and an image of St. Mark will greet all those who enter.

The exterior of the church is located so as to create the St. Mark plaza in the front and a prominent apse and entrance along Stumptown road. The new plaza has a central fountain and will be defined by the Msgr. Kerin center, the new church and an edge of trees. The plaza will become an outdoor gathering space as well adjacent to the majority of new parking along with providing dropoff and handicapped parking. Side entrances will have drop offs and turnarounds on grade.

A future cloister garden will provide an outdoor place of tranquility surrounded by brick arcades with a columbarium built into the walls. The arcade will make a covered connection from the Msgr. Kerin center to the bell tower entrance.

The exterior of the church is predominately constructed of brick and stone with a metal roof. Front stairs and ramp lead up to a raised terrace and a welcoming Doric loggia. Two lions (symbols of St. Mark) and statues of four saints greet the visitor. The generous narthex is a place of preparation with views into the nave and into an octagonal baptistery. The octagonal baptistery will be articulated by ionic columns and will spiral up into a faceted dome with a skylight above. Inscriptions referring to baptism will be placed in the frieze of the baptistery. The St. Mark room will provide a place for ushers, brides, wakes, as well as committee meetings or gatherings. The narthex will double as a cry room and will also have off of it stairs, bathrooms, and an elevator. Above the narthex is a choir loft with provision for a future organ while below is located storage and the mechanical room.

The nave is a cruciform space in the style of a Roman basilica with ionic arcades, side aisles, stations of the cross and devotional shrines. Confessionals will be placed near the beginning of the aisles symbolic of the process of repentance and forgiveness on our journey toward the Eucharist. Clerestory windows bring light into the vaulted central nave with smaller arched windows in the aisles. In the transepts shrines dedicated to the Sacred Heart and to the Blessed Virgin Mary will be placed with the left transept doubling as a daily mass chapel. Large Corinthian pilasters support the four corners of the shallow saucer dome with images of the four evangelists beneath.

The interior will focus on the altar as the place of sacrifice and communion. A prominent tabernacle will indicate the central mystery of faith and that the church is a Eucharistic house. A longitudinal nave will exemplify the journey of faith with stations of the cross along the sides. As a transcendent place, the interior will soar upwards, heavenly light will flood the nave from above, and images of the saints and angels will surround the congregation. Devotional areas with a painting or statue, and a place to light a candle and pray will be provided. As a house of God, the sanctuary will be raised and will receive greatest focus and finest materials. A prominent marble ambo for proclaiming and preaching the Word of God will be decorated with symbols of the four evangelists or scriptural narratives. A smaller lectern balances it for the cantor. A triumphal arch, decoration, and steps at the location of reception of the Eucharist will frame the sanctuary. A large marble altar will be framed architecturally by a baldachino. The church will also be seen as a sacramental place with a prominent baptistery, elegant wood confessionals, as well as a generous area near the sanctuary for weddings, confirmation and ordinations.

The semicircular apse is ringed with windows and an ambulatory that will connect the work sacristy and the priest’s sacristy. Materials in the church will be painted wood and plaster with tile floors in the nave and marble in the sanctuary. The building is to be constructed with a steel frame and concrete masonry infill above a concrete foundation, brick and limestone exterior veneer walls, and steel roof trusses.

This is a renovation of a daily mass chapel for a large parish church in the Archdiocese of Houston. The existing chapel was rather functional in style and the pastor desired to create a place of prayer and devotion that would support and honor the liturgy. The chapel, which is 1700 square feet in size, is dedicated to St. Therese of the Little Flower that has occasioned the commissioning of a new stained glass of the saint within the sanctuary. Smaller traditional chapels of the early Renaissance influenced the addition of architectural elements including Doric columns, pilasters, entablatures, door architraves and small shrines. The addition of a new marble slab floor and custom wood and marble altar are the focus of the project. With a limited budget and a grand vision, the design called for research in inexpensive materials and the creative use of color.

The walls of the chapel are umber and the architectural elements added are white. The frieze of the Doric entablature and the back walls of the small shrines are a burgundy color. Simple wood coffering with painted panels and ecclesiastical pendant fixtures add to the chapel’s aesthetic. Two new confessional rooms and a working sacristy were added in keeping with the design of the chapel. The marble slab floor of the sanctuary consists of cooler grays and blues with white marble tiles creating simple geometric patterns. The altar seeks to combine the iconography of both meal and sacrifice with corner balusters and a mensa made from onyx. The tabernacle located behind the altar is from Spain and sits on a shrine that compliments the design of the altar.

This is a summer house for a family with Irish roots and relatives. The site is near Galway, on Lough Corrib, the second largest lake in Ireland. The lake area is environmentally protected, and all development is kept to a minimum with adherence to strict planning and aesthetic guidelines. The house is placed on the site to take advantage of the limited sunlight and the magnificent views of Lough Corrib.

It is a 3800-sf house inspired by both the low-slung cottages of Galway and the Classical language of Palladio employed in many of the Irish country houses. All of the public rooms look out on the lake across a raised stone terrace. Four bedrooms with baths allow more than one family to inhabit the house and for visitors to come at will.

This proposed urban piazza and gateway is intended to create a new civic identity for the town of Covington, Kentucky, while connecting it back across the Ohio River to Cincinnati, Ohio. The new piazza is monumental in scale and becomes both a reference to and a mediation between the city and the Roebling Bridge, the longest single-span suspension bridge at the time of its construction. The central focus of the forum is a “Museum of Engineering Technology” which would document the history of the Roebling Bridge and provide exhibits on the history of civic works of engineering. The museum is modeled on the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and an important paradigm for a number of buildings across the river in Cincinnati. The three-sided forum has ground floor arcades that permit shaded and protected passageways as well as providing large areas of shop fronts for retail use. Upper floors are planned for office and residential uses.

The Saint Pius X Education Center is conceived as a place of learning for all ages. Located in a suburban area outside of South Bend, Indiana, the new education center reflects the tradition of Catholic architecture and particularly that of Northern Italy where St. Pius X was born. The building is a two-story brick and limestone structure. The front entrance is a two-story arcade with Pius X’s motto “To Renew All Things in Christ” and his coat of arms in the pediment. Large windows provide generous natural lighting and ventilation to all of the classrooms.

The education center connects to the existing church and parish center so as to facilitate use by the parish, priests and staff. An arcaded courtyard has a garden and is seen as a place for classes, prayer services and parish receptions. The focus of the courtyard will be a shrine dedicated to the Virgin, in her role as mother of the Church and Seat of Wisdom.

Inside, a two-story lobby is designed with images from the life of St. Pius X corresponding with images from the life of Christ. Inscriptions such as “Let the little children come to me…” are placed within the frieze. The library is a two-story room with numerous windows, bookshelves along the walls and a fireplace at one end. The full size gym has a stage and locker rooms and a lobby facing the courtyard. Classrooms for grades K–8, as well as for science, art and music, are connected by generous terazzo corridors.

This new church, which will seat up to 1600 people, is planned for a fast growing town. The design of the church is inspired by sacred buildings in the area around Venice. The church is placed adjacent to gardens and a piazza to serve as both exterior gathering spaces and areas for devotion. As is traditional, the church is oriented on an east-west axis while its monumental façade and curving apse face two major roads. The tall bell tower, inspired by Venetian examples, will be visible from the intersection as well as from far away making the location of God’s house clear to all those who pass by. Regional materials such as brick, limestone and a metal roof will be employed.

On the interior, a generous atrium surmounted by a glass roof provides a large gathering area along with a baptistery and ancillary functions. The church proper is cruciform with the altar and sanctuary at the crossing. The nave is articulated by paired ionic columns and arches which are surmounted by large thermal windows. The ceiling is wood with wood trusses recalling the architecture of the existing church on the site. Side aisles facilitate movement and provide areas for devotional shrines and stations of the cross. Above the crossing or heart of the church is a grand dome and lantern supported figuratively by images of the four evangelists. The cupola’s height and spiritual light provides a vertical axis and offers a sense of transcendence to the building. A corona or crown hovers over the sacred altar and behind it hangs an image of the crucified Lord. A screen wall of ionic columns separates the sanctuary from an adoration chapel with a large opening framing the view of the tabernacle of the blessed sacrament. The organ of the existing church will be reused in the new church with music rooms and additional meeting rooms located in a partially finished undercroft.

This villa is a design for a private lakeside residence in the Midwest. The house takes its model from Venetian palaces and gardens, having a classical European façade with tripartite divisions. The main body of the residence contains generously proportioned public rooms, while the wings are more private in character. The house sits on an extensively landscaped site, with beautiful views of the surrounding countryside.

This new commercial building is 120,000 square feet, and its design follows the tradition of American urban offices from the early 20th century. It has a courtyard with a small fountain at the main entry. The base of the building is limestone with bronze entry doors that lead to a marble lobby with high vaulted ceilings. The next five floors of the building are traditional yellow brick with limestone cornice, balustrade and urns.

The ground level will have a restaurant, store fronts, office space, and tenant parking. Floors above will be used for office space and commercial headquarters for the owner.

The design of Annunciation Academy reflects the classical teaching mission of the Academy. The aim of the building is to provide the optimum setting for education and the imparting of wisdom to the next generation. Following the tradition of Thomas Jefferson, the architecture seeks to instruct students in the richness of intellectual tradition and in eternal truths.

Influenced by the Academy is the tradition of the academic quadrangle and the monastic cloister garden. A central pavilion houses the foyer and chapel, with two wings housing the classrooms, a library and common room. The quadrangle is open on one side to welcome children and their parents, to provide an appropriate drop off area as well as an outdoor room for waiting and recreation. At the circle entrance there is a fountain dedicated to the Virgin. Entrances to the Library and the Commons are also provided, making after school events convenient.

The front façade employs the doric and ionic orders in a composition inspired by Tidewater villas and Catholic churches. The first floor frieze has the academy motto inscribed “Fiat Mihi Secundum Verbum Tuum” while the tympanum of the pediment has a sculpture of the Angel Gabriel and the Virgin. The spacious entrance lobby contains the seal of the Academy on the floor, and in side niches there are images of Saints particularly of interest to children (such as Saint Maria Goretti, Saint John Bosco, Saint Francis of Assisi, and David). The lobby is the place of orientation, being proximate to stairs, elevator, offices and the chapel. Hallways with arcaded windows surrounding the quadrangle lead to classrooms as well as to the library and commons. Classrooms have built in shelving, blackboards, tack boards, storage and generous windows bringing in light and views of the fields. Classes for upper grades are provided on the second floor and there is a small balcony to the chapel and a large conference room looking over the quadrangle.

The two-story commons will be used as a refectory, for school meetings and has a stage for musical and dramatic performances. The one story library has built in shelving with small study and reading areas. The offices are placed near the main and side entrances for good visibility and security. The chapel, dedicated to St. Joseph, Guardian of the Redeemer, is the symbolic heart of the Academy having a two story space articulated with corinthian pilasters, clerestory lighting and devotional artwork.

Sacred Heart Chapel is designed for a new Catholic high school outside of Minneapolis and is intended to inspire students to prayer and good works. The chapel is circular, with diffused light streaming down from a dome. The altar bears a mosaic of the sacred heart of Jesus, and is set in a raised sanctuary. Two side chapels, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and to St. Joseph are on the cross axis and provide a place for prayerful devotion. Ionic pilasters support the entablature on which in inscribed a passage appropriate to high school students from St. Paul’s letter to Timothy: "Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." Sculptures and mosaics throughout the chapel depict moments in the New Testament.

The chapel will be built of wood and plaster, with marble floors, mosaics, and a stone altar. Since this is an insertion into an existing building, special care was taken to integrate the geometry and the design of the new chapel within the existing structure. This chapel creates a sacred space at the entrance to the high school and will serve as a place of daily mass, private prayer and eucharistic adoration.

This house is a modern “villa suburbana” that has been translated from the Italian Veneto to Middle America; a grand little building constructed out of simple materials for a small family to which the enjoyment of the fine arts, music and philosophy are both professions and passions. The house is seen both as ennobling these activities and as an expression of them.

The architectural context is seen as the broad tradition and history of the villa type with special interest in the work of Andrea Palladio and Thomas Jefferson. The architect’s goal was to reinstate the simple pleasures of the villa life in contemporary society while raising the standard of architectural and artistic form as a benefit to the public realm. The artist’s goal was to give meaning and form to the rituals and beliefs of the family with full awareness of the modern life. The proposed frescos and sculpture are progeny of seicento and settecento Italian artists such as Veronese, Vittoria and Tiepolo who sought to give form to the aspirations of their times while also reflecting on the art and moral philosophy of ancient Greece and Rome.

The building’s design grew out of the architect’s research and measured drawings of the architecture of Andrea Palladio in the Italian Veneto. In his innovative designs Palladio created a new type by combining the summer house or castello with vernacular farm buildings and by wedding them architecturally to the agricultural landscape. Villa Indiana is a conscious transformation of the Palladian villa type at a scale appropriate for a young family while maintaining the proportions of Palladio’s masterpieces.

The Chapel of the North American Martyrs is designed for the campus of Thomas More College in New England which also has a campus in Rome, Italy. The quadrangle on which the chapel fronts is both a type of New England green and a type of academic cloister. The chapel design grows out of the rich tradition of the Eternal City, referencing both the basilica type as exemplified by Santa Maria in Trastevere (Rome) as well as examples from the Italian Renaissance. In addition, the chapel reflects the rich American architectural heritage, in particular the interpretation of Classical models by New England churches.

The chapel is entered up a flight of steps with a monumental Ionic portico into a small narthex. The interior is characteristic of the Early Christian basilica with a nave, two aisles and an apse. Wood Ionic columns march towards the sanctuary with its polychromed altar and baldacchino. A wall safe tabernacle in the tradition of San Clemente and Florentine Renaissance is placed behind the altar, with seating for clergy and acolytes on either side. The ambo is placed in the middle of the nave, attached to one of the central columns, to give emphasis to the Word of God and to preaching. The painted apse has an image of Christ and his mother enthroned and surrounded by the North American Martyrs who brought faith to the region. A frieze of images reflecting the life of St. Thomas More, patron of the college, is also placed within the apse. Shrines to Mary Magdalene and the Virgin are located to either side of the sanctuary at the end of the aisles. The chapel seats approximately 275 people, with a small choir loft, and an Aula Magna in the undercroft for lectures, exhibitions and dramatic works.

Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity chapel is prominently located at the head of the main quadrangle at Thomas Aquinas College. This central location reflects the important role of faith in the pursuit of wisdom. Administration and classroom buildings, connected to the chapel by arcades, will complete the quadrangle.

This design for the Thomas Aquinas College chapel is inspired by the churches of Southern California as well as by the Catholic tradition. The three story belltower and dome can be seen from within the valley, and in particular from Ojai Road. Visitors will first see the chapel with its curvilinear apse upon entering the campus by way of the stone gate, and then enter the quadrangle through a limestone arch and an octagonal pavilion. The arcades flanking the chapel provide covered access from the academic buildings and assist in defining the quadrangle.

Entering the chapel one goes through a covered narthex, above which is placed the choir loft. The chapel has a nave, transept and large sanctuary in the shape of a cross holding up to four hundred people. The interior character is of the Early Christian basilicas with Corinthian arcades. The ceiling is vaulted with arched windows and ribbed supports. The crossing has a dome with twelve circular windows in honor of the apostles and the pendentives have images of the four evangelists. Side aisles provide places for procession, confession and overflow seating. The main focus is on the marble tabernacle and the altar which has a Solomonic baldacchino surmounted by angels of the Lord’s Passion who support an image of the crucifix. An ambo is placed to the left so that readers can be seen and heard. Shrines dedicated to St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Thomas and the Blessed Virgin Mary are located within the transept.

A new Canonry and Parish Center at a parish church in Chicago, Illinois, is influenced by traditional monastic complexes. The Canonry will be attached to the apse end of the church with private access to the cloister through the sacristies and semi-public access to the parish center through the basement of the church. The main entrance will be located at the opposite end of the cloister.

The parish center is at ground level with an entrance foyer, offices, music and conference rooms surrounding the courtyard. The entrance foyer is a double height space with a reception office and waiting room. The library and refectory are also double height spaces that flank the entrance foyer and serve as semi-public spaces for parishioners and brothers of the canonry. The courtyard serves as both a public gathering space for Mass or prayer groups and a sacred space dedicated to private prayer and spiritual devotion.

The canonry and main floor of the church are at the same level. An additional sacristy will be located at the apse end of the church and connect to existing sacristies in order to provide more working space for clergy. The new sacristy will have the design and feel of a small working chapel. In addition to the sacristy, there are five priests’ cells, one guest room, and one conference room.

The top floor of the canonry will house the brothers and seminarians of the cloister. The brothers of the canonry follow St. Augustine’s rule for living a very simple and communal life. The priests’ cells face the exterior and are sparingly furnished. The study area is an open space with windows facing the courtyard of the cloister. A community room with a fireplace and small library is above the sacristy. A room for the prior and another room face onto a large terrace located above the double story refectory and library.

Holy Cross Monastery is a community of Benedictine Monks who have formed a contemplative monastery within the city of Chicago. A spiritual undertaking of this sort is rather unique in contemporary America. The Monastery sits on half a block of a traditional Chicago neighborhood and attaches itself to the existing Gothic church, originally built as a parish for Austrian immigrants. The monastic buildings are designed in the tradition of Renaissance monasteries as w