Architects, Community, and Transcendence

Architects are revered for their ability to conceptualize and design buildings while solving problems with space. This chapter examines how architects work with religious communities to realize their goals for a new or remodeled religious building. Through interviews with three architects who have worked with congregations in varied religious traditions to design religious structures, the authors argue that architects act as guides for congregations, though some play a more proactive role in making suggestions than others. Additionally, the religious formation of architects shapes how they approach their professional duties and advice. Finally, the problems that architects of religious buildings attempt to solve include designing structures that help congregations “build a ‘we’ ” and designing spaces that foster connections to transcendence.

Religious Buildings Need Not Apply

When religious groups want to purchase land for a new building or alter an existing structure, they may have to apply to a municipal government for approval. When they present a proposal, how often are they approved? Are religious groups treated differently? Looking at zoning proposals from religious groups in three Chicago suburbs over five years, the authors find that although the majority of requests are approved, religious groups do receive differential treatment, and Muslim groups encountered more opposition. Additionally, features of the land and/or building could lead to more conflict, including locations near residences, and different local governments and residents could generate more opposition. These findings suggest the strong desire religious groups can have for their buildings may come in conflict with what neighbors and officials want; this leads to negotiations and occasionally tension.

Ours until Jesus Comes!

In four case studies of congregations in Guatemala, this chapter introduces and discusses the concept of building energy: the emotional energy that groups experience when undertaking a building project. In a country with an increasing number of congregations, it discusses: a Seventh-day Adventist congregation pooling their resources to purchase land and construct a cement-block church; a Pentecostal congregation that constructed a corrugated steel building on rented land but outfitted it with white ceramic tile floor, original artwork, and an impressive PA system; a Catholic church in an indigenous town that worked through conflict to construct a new sanctuary with the help of the community; and a non-denominational church that chose to design and build a structure themselves, using the project as a means of providing work and architectural apprenticeship for its young adults. Across the cases, the building projects brought church and/or community members together, even though the projects often revealed tensions over congregational identity.

What Religious Buildings Do

With religious buildings common across the globe, this chapter examines how sociologists can turn the study of structure—an important concept in the field—to physical structures and how religious buildings made of materials influence congregations and communities. The authors make four arguments regarding the influence of religious buildings: they shape and are shaped by religious congregations in addition to other actors; their construction and development often involves tension and excitement; through the buildings, the past can influence the present; and they highlight the need to bring bodies back into the sociological study of religion. Drawing on numerous examples from around the world, the authors contend that studying religion should include how the religious buildings in which groups gather influence and work in concert with social structures.

Conclusion

This chapter provides five answers to the question of how religious buildings affect and shape the experiences of those who worship and visit. First, the building energy that begins with building projects is meaningful and possibly long lasting for congregations. Second, religious traditions provide architectural toolkits for congregations and architects to draw on. Third, design choices are constrained by access to and willingness to use economic resources, though congregations can be very creative. Fourth, a religious building can be influential through time, including how design choices affect later worshippers or how buildings can become sacred spaces for other groups. Fifth, cross-national cases suggest that religious architecture crosses national boundaries, illustrated by the influence of American Protestant megachurches on religious buildings in Guatemala. These findings have important implications for studying the materiality of religion, the “we”-ness of congregations, the religious experiences of individuals and groups, and how religious buildings arise and evolve.

Aging in Place over Eight-Plus Decades

Religious buildings start by hosting a religious congregation who built or modified the structure. This chapter considers the later fate of these buildings: What happens to religious buildings over the decades, and how do the congregations that worship in those older structures view the building? Across four Protestant denominations in the Chicago region, the authors examine how many churches present in 1936 are still standing and how the buildings are used. For the congregations still worshipping in the same structure over eight decades later, they look at how the building appears on their website. A good number of the church buildings are still standing, though who uses them can vary across denominations. The website images show how some congregations make use of their historic structure. Together, these findings suggest that religious buildings have ongoing building energy even if they were constructed long ago.

Space Bending When Matter Matters

Religious congregations regularly take buildings not originally intended for religious use and convert them to spaces for worship and fellowship. This chapter includes five case studies: a Guatemalan evangelical megachurch that worships in a parking garage; a suburban Anglican congregation that transformed a former manufacturing plant; a group in Vermont that turned a former US Army horse barn into a mosque; a suburban non-denominational church that meets each week in a high school auditorium; and an Orthodox Christian congregation that altered a Missouri Synod Lutheran building for their use. The authors argue that a number of religious groups can make spaces work for them, particularly if they have constrained resources and are willing to be creative in changing the interior of structures.

Introduction

Drawing on the example of the college campus tour and the way tour participants “read” buildings for clues about the institution, the authors argue that sociologists ought to pay more attention to the symbolic and formative power of buildings. Religious buildings in particular have been virtually ignored by sociology despite their ubiquity in the global landscape. How do religious buildings affect and shape the experiences of those who worship and visit? This Introduction summarizes the themes of the subsequent chapters in the book and discusses why it is important for scholars to study the planning for, construction of, approval required for, alteration of, experiences in, and presence of religious buildings. Just as the campus chapel continues to mark a religious presence on college campuses, the authors posit that religious buildings shape communities throughout societies and deserve attention.