Blogs

AIA Interfaith Design Knowledge Community Project Spotlight: St. Patrick Catholic Church

By Alison Karfeld posted 3 days ago
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Project Name: St. Patrick Catholic Church, Firm: RDG Planning & Design What and where is this project? In the heart of Elkhorn, Nebraska—where suburban growth has transformed once-rural farmland into flourishing neighborhoods — St. Patrick Catholic Church has served its community for more than 150 years. But as the number of parish families surged to nearly 3,000, it became clear that the original church campus could no longer support the vitality and diversity of the parish’s ministries. So, the parish set out to reimagine its entire campus, and, working alongside RDG Planning & Design, began to envision a place simultaneously rooted ...
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December Letter from the 2025 IDKC Chair, Elisabeth Bakker Johnson, AIA

By Alison Karfeld posted 3 days ago
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Dear Colleagues and Friends, As my term as Chair of the AIA Interfaith Design Knowledge Community (IDKC) comes to a close, I write with deep gratitude, reflecting on a year rich in dialogue, shared learning, and spiritual depth. It has been an honor to serve this remarkable community of architects, designers, scholars, and seekers who believe in the power of design to connect, heal, and inspire. This year, we explored the sacred through a variety of lenses—cultural, architectural, and spiritual. In March, our Town Hall brought together voices from across the country to discuss the IDKC’s 2025 theme of adaptive reuse and to share visions for the future of ...
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September Letter from the 2025 IDKC Chair, Elisabeth Bakker Johnson, AIA

By Alison Karfeld posted 09-08-2025
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Dear colleagues and friends, I’m still carrying the energy from our recent Interfaith Design Knowledge Community Forum at AIA25 in Boston. It was more than a gathering—it felt like a shared moment of reflection, curiosity, and connection. To sit in a room with architects, designers, and scholars from so many faith traditions and perspectives, and to explore how sacred spaces are evolving in our time, was truly inspiring. We touched on profound themes—symbolism, sustainability, the respectful reuse of religious buildings—and asked hard questions about what it means to design spaces that honor both tradition and contemporary needs. The conversations were ...
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IDKC AIA25 Event Recap

By Alison Karfeld posted 07-10-2025
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By Elisabeth Bakker Johnson, AIA The Interfaith Design Knowledge Community (IDKC) Forum at the AIA Conference in Boston brought together architects, designers, and academics from diverse faith backgrounds to discuss the intersection of art & architecture, spirituality, and community. Attendees explored topics such as symbolism, iconography, sustainable design, and the evolving role of sacred spaces in modern society. The fluid and thoughtful dialogue considered the challenges of decommissioning religious buildings, the respectful reuse of sacred spaces, the integration of sustainability into faith-based architecture, and the exploration of the deeper ...
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Interfaith Design: Chair Welcome

By Michael Janaskie, AIA posted 04-24-2023
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Welcome members and allied professionals. This year, I am serving as Chair of the AIA Interfaith Design Knowledge Community. I would like to recognize our past Chair Douglas Hanson, FAIA (2022) and his great leadership. Over the last several years we have navigated challenges, survived COVID lockdowns, and refined our direction. This current year finds us in full post COVID mode and has enabled this year’s theme of Traction to strongly roll out. We will host the International Religious Art & Architecture Awards Program & Reception (a long-standing tradition) at the AIA Conference in San Francisco on June 8. Our Design committee is working ...
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Combining the New with the Old

By Douglas Hanson, FAIA posted 07-21-2022
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I recently read an article about a church in Los Angeles that was going to tear down their religious buildings and build a new mixed-use project in its place. The new project would include a new worship hall, school, and affordable housing. Rick Reinhard, who has written on real estate and the financial realities of religious facilities, has laid out an easy-to-follow strategic approach for Houses of Worship that face financial instability. According to the article, the church had done adequate due diligence including financial viability, legacy, and moral obligations. It appears they have taken into consideration many of the points that Reinhard makes, which ...
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Issues Related to Local Regulation of Religious Land Use

By Patrick Perry posted 10-27-2020
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Interfaith Design’s Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present the first in an occasional series of articles on the practice of interfaith architecture. Patrick Perry is a real estate and environmental attorney practicing in Los Angeles. This month, Patrick shares some of his experience with the unique land use and zoning concerns for religious organizations. Please enjoy and share! In 1992 the Missionaries of Charity Brothers, a religious order founded by Mother Teresa, acquired a historic property in a densely populated neighborhood southwest of downtown Los Angeles where they established an outreach ministry to homeless youth and young adults. ...
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Detroit Landmarks Video

By Jason Haskins, AIA posted 09-23-2020
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I was sent this video – it’s a short watch at just shy of six minutes, but it’s a beautiful expression of some of the religious architecture in Detroit , Michigan by a local dentist and his family. As written in The Oakland Press, “Huszti’s five-minute short “ Detroit Landmarks: Inspiration” is a love letter to the architecture of various houses of worship in his area. The soaring views of these beautiful places of spiritual comfort has become a symbol of hope and inspiration during the pandemic.” Hope you enjoyed seeing this! Have you seen any other examples of creative expression coming out of the recent months that connect to religious architecture ...
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Case Study: Huaxiang Christian Community Center

By Cameron Bird, AIA posted 05-28-2020
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Interfaith Design's Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present a series of monthly case studies based on selected award winners from the annual Faith and Form/Interfaith Design International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards. Please enjoy and share! The Christian church has been challenged from the beginning to live in the world, but set apart from the world. This state of spiritual being has been reflected, since the Roman Empire legalized Christianity, in the buildings that the church has built. Completed in 2018 in Fuzhou, China, the Huaxiang Christian Community Center embraces its role as the church made manifest. Entrance - ...
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Case Study: St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church, Ankeny, IA

By Michael Janaskie, AIA posted 03-24-2020
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This is certainly the year where we as a nation think about the important state of Iowa. We are now about a month past the Iowa caucuses and there are likely a variety of opinions on the results and the process of determining delegates. However, when it comes to this Iowa project, there is truly a unified chorus of support for this 2019 Faith and Form award winner, St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church, the feature focus for our March Blog. Directly in the heart of Iowa north of Des Moines, Neumann Monson Architects (MNA) designed this 31,805 SF facility which was completed in 2015 by Hansen Company, Inc. The firm states the design is an ‘assemblage ...
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Case Study: St. Mary's High School Chapel, Berkeley

By Kennedy Colombo, AIA posted 12-28-2019
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Interfaith Design’s Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present a series of monthly case studies based on selected award winners from the annual Faith and Form/Interfaith Design International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards. Please enjoy and share! Making your way through the residential streets of North Berkeley approaching the south entry of St. Mary’s College High School campus, the first building you encounter is the striking new chapel. Rising from a gentle slope just through the entry gates, the concrete walled chapel functions like a friendly gatehouse. The 38-foot sloped tower anchors the campus entry while simultaneously ...
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Case Study: Omaha’s Tri-Faith Commons Celebrates Diversity and Unity

By Katherine Ball, AIA posted 10-16-2019
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Interfaith Design’s Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present a series of monthly case studies based on selected award winners from the annual Faith and Form/Interfaith Design International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards. Please enjoy and share! We live in a time of intense polarization. Partisan divides are deep, many of us live in neighborhoods where we are surrounded by like-minded people, and social media makes it easy for us to seek out opinions that match our own. We seem to have lost the ability to disagree agreeably, and we are increasingly at risk of becoming isolated within the limited social circles of those who look, ...
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The Spirit of Place- Spirit of Design

By Katherine Ball, AIA posted 06-14-2019
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Interfaith Design’s Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present a series of monthly case studies based on selected award winners from the annual Faith and Form/Interfaith Design International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards. Please enjoy and share! The word “andamento” has its roots in music; it generally refers to the progression of a fugue, or the pace and evolution of a series of individual notes forming a cohesive pattern. In the visual arts, however, andamento takes on rich meaning in terms of the pattern formed by the individual pieces, or tesserae, of a mosaic. In the process of artistic collaboration, then, perhaps andamento best ...
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Reversing the Trend

By John Tagle, AIA posted 05-28-2019
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Christian congregations are losing numbers. This is an undeniable trend. According to Simon G. Brauer in his 2017 peer-reviewed paper written for the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, congregations hit their peak of 414,000 in 2006 and by 2012 the number shrank to 384,000. Photo by John Tagle Architects According Thom Rainer, in his 2018 article Hope for Dying Churches , “Between 6,000 and 10,000 churches in the U.S. are dying each year.” There is no solid statistical evidence of this many closings. But whether the numbers are real or fake, when these great sacred landmarks are dark and lifeless, ...
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Case Study: St. Mary’s Chapel, Lafferty, Ohio, Midland Architecture

By Kennedy Colombo, AIA posted 04-13-2019
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photo credit: Jay Gullion Interfaith Design’s Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present a series of monthly case studies based on selected award winners from the annual Faith and Form/Interfaith Design International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards. Please enjoy and share! The rolling hills of the northern Ohio Valley, along the western Appalachians, are home to some of the oldest farming communities in the United States. St. Mary’s Chapel, in the rural hamlet of Lafferty, emerges from one of those hills, comfortably residing as a contemporary piece of architecture rooted in its place . When fire consumed the previous ...
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Revitalizing Tower Bells in Chicago and Beyond

By Katherine Ball, AIA posted 04-09-2019
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Guest Post By Kim Schafer, founder and partner of Community Bell Advocates, LLC photo credit Christopher Chung Introduction Bells are not only hidden signalers inside distinctive architectural features—towers—but also the usual reason for the tower’s design. Our mission at Community Bell Advocates, LLC is to recognize bells as an integral element of tower architecture and a critical component in connecting listeners to their shared histories, values, and communities. Too many tower bells are in disrepair, neglected or forgotten altogether. We aim to revitalize these bells and encourage the installation of new ones through consultation, education, ...
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Case Study: Liberty United Methodist Church, Dake Wells Architecture

By Jason Haskins, AIA posted 02-18-2019
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Dake Wells Architecture: Liberty United Methodist Church Rush Creek Campus Liberty, Missouri, US Photo credit: Gayle Babcock, Architectural Imageworks, LLC Interfaith Design’s Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present a series of monthly case studies based on selected award winners from the annual Faith and Form/Interfaith Design International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards. Please enjoy and share! Boldly perched on the brow of a hill in humble proclamation, Liberty United Methodist Church’s Rush Creek Campus establishes a new home for the growing community. Its architecture reflects how the expansion bridges the heritage ...
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Case Study: Vajrasana Buddhist Retreat Center, Walters & Cohen Architects

By Katherine Ball, AIA posted 01-21-2019
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Walters & Cohen Architects: Vajrasana Buddhist Retreat Centre Walsham le Willows, Suffolk, UK photo credit Walters & Cohen Architects Interfaith Design’s Knowledge Resources Committee is pleased to present a series of monthly case studies based on selected award winners from the annual Faith and Form/Interfaith Design International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards. Please enjoy and share! The Buddhist mindset embraces paradoxes. Koans such as “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” help the practitioner experience multiplicities of thought, breaking down the barriers between the active and the meditative mind to ...
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Richard Vosko, Hon. AIA receives honorary degree from St. Bonaventure University

By Richard S. Vosko, Hon. AIA, Hon. AIA posted 02-23-2018
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ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Richard S. Vosko, Ph.D., Hon. AIA, past chair of IFRAA (now Interfaith Design) received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from St. Bonaventure University for his contributions to the fields of religious art and architecture. Vosko who is also a priest of the Diocese of Albany, NY, has been working since 1970 as a sacred space planner throughout the United States and Canada. He was elected as an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects in 2005 and is a current member of the editorial committee of Faith & Form. Vosko is known internationally as a frequent author and speaker on topics related to sacred ...
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The only constant is change: Interfaith Design's story

By Emma Tucker posted 02-13-2018
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New name, same great community After many years as the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art, and Architecture (IFRAA), we've embraced a new name: Interfaith Design. Why change the name? We had many reasons: It was long and hard to remember. When shortened to IFRAA, newcomers didn't understand what it meant. We wanted an easier way to identify our community. The feedback we've received over the years was clear: our members wanted a short, easy-to-remember but descriptive name. How did you change the name? We started this process in early 2015. And we weren't alone: many of the other AIA Knowledge Communities had their own discussions about ...
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