Balance for Historic Religious Structures
By Craig Rafferty, FAIA| 2011 Chair AIA Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture

0There are many areas of overlap between the AIA’s Historic Resources Knowledge Community and the AIA’s Interfaith Forum on Religion Art and Architecture (IFRAA) Knowledge Community. One of the most significant is their common ground for preserving and restoring historic churches and sharing information on successful projects. Such projects are often worthy of recognition within the Faith and Form / IFRAA International Awards program conducted each year in search of the most meaningful and exemplary religious architecture projects. This award program, approaching 70 years under 3 different names, has recognized over 80 restorations and major renovation projects in the past 45 years in which records are available.

0There are many areas of overlap between the AIA’s Historic Resources Knowledge Community and the AIA’s Interfaith Forum on Religion Art and Architecture (IFRAA) Knowledge Community. One of the most significant is their common ground for preserving and restoring historic churches and sharing information on successful projects. Such projects are often worthy of recognition within the Faith and Form / IFRAA International Awards program conducted each year in search of the most meaningful and exemplary religious architecture projects. This award program, approaching 70 years under 3 different names, has recognized over 80 restorations and major renovation projects in the past 45 years in which records are available.

0The awards recognizing historic structures highlight a mixture of preservation and restoration challenges in balance with liturgical modifications, artistic accents, upgrading, modernization, and other vital solutions that allow these structures to remain integral to their community.

0Still, at issue for many parishes and congregations is the fear that an historic designation could be a detriment to their ongoing religious and community needs, shifting the resources of the community to serving the building when it is the building that should be serving the community. On one hand the need to preserve the integrity of the structure is of utmost importance almost universally. Often members belong to one church versus another because of the architectural character of the church, though this is not the case for the majority. On another hand historic designation carries obligations that church communities are not always willing to accept. Their fear is that it will cost too much or worse that it will limit their ability to adapt to the changing directions of their community both socially and liturgically, forcing them to emphasize building over program

0Reviewing the history of the Faith and Form / IFRAA International Awards since 1965 yields a revealing shift in attitude regarding this conflict between building and program. During the 60’s thru the 80’s only 20 of the recipients of the award went to renovation or restoration projects out of 166 recognized projects. Of these only 3 where aimed entirely at restoration or 2%. During the past 21 years from 1990 almost 70 projects have been recognized for their major renovation and restoration efforts and 45 of these are clearly aimed at restoration and reclaiming the historic structures role in the community. This represents an increase to 18%. It is also interesting to note that 30 of the 45 are in the past 10 years.

0While there are no meaningful conclusive insights that can be gleaned from this quick survey of the Faith and Form / IFRAA Awards program one could see that during the 60’s the prevailing emphasis was focused on the creativity of new construction for religious buildings. We can also see that the emphasis is shifting and will continue to grow as historic structures continue to age, as religious emphasis and practice continues to evolve, and as architects are increasingly challenged to balance community and building historic design demands.

0A church has long been one of the most enduring of historic building typologies. Throughout Europe one of the key focal points of every community was the church. This integral connection carried over and into our early American history. Currently the historic churches in our cities are undergoing many changes as religious practices evolve and as the shift to the suburbs transitions back to a return to our cities. Our historic churches are experiencing a revival. This revival is reinforced by the continued understanding that the balance between preservation of the building and revitalization of program are completely dependent on each other for success.

0By Craig Rafferty, FAIA |Rafferty Rafferty Tollefson Lindeke Architects
2011 Chair, AIA Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture

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