STUDENT WORK
Award
New New England Church
Plymouth, Massachusetts
Designer
Vivian Kuong
Cambridge, Massachusetts
According to the designer, the New New England Church project reconsiders the programmatic, structural, historical, and sociocultural intersections of architectural design and religious institutions. It envisions the redistribution of sanctuary and community spaces. It reinterprets vernacular construction techniques, materials, and design strategies to rethink the role of symbolism, sanctity, and profanity in religious buildings today. The church has three volumes: a bell tower, the main church volume, and a community tower. The main church volume is organized by three sacred activities – worship, preaching, and communion. Though different in spatial quality and functions, sacred and profane spaces are interconnected within the church’s walls.
Jury Comments
The New New England Church project is distinguished by a rigorous subdivision of its interior spaces dedicated to various “sacred” and “profane” activities. The choice of materials refers to the New England tradition of wood-frame construction for houses of worship.
