SCHUSTER

TEMPORAL GROUND mormon architecture and the ability to fuse communities Jenna Schuster Advisor: Nancy Rogo-Trainer, FAIA June 2015

THESIS STATEMENT 1. As development of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints expands in center cities, the program of service can be used to bring together the greater community with the institution and its members.

2. The architecture of the Church should be designed to serve the urban fabric, while still communicating the values of the institution.

3. At 16th and Vine Streets, the adjacent LDS temple will provide the reverent programmatic anchor for a new kind of civic space and institutional development.

PROJECT GOALS •

bring together different groups of people to make a conscious, caring community

•

provide space for an anchor institution focusing on giving and receiving service

•

live with respect for the urban city, conscious of consumption and waste

•

design a church building that responds to the site and respects the temple

•

provide rich and varied experiences

VOIDS IN THE FABRIC The car has taken over the urban fabric of Philadelphia, much to the benefit of ordinary citizens, but it’s time to reclaim some streets. Vine Street sections off Center City from the Spring Garden area. The separation of mostly heavy commercial from mostly residential is a nice thing for neighbors, but how can the physical barrier be more friendly to pedestrians. Can some of this area be utilized in the future? How to we plan for that in the districts surrounding the voids?

GREEN SPACE NETWORK

HOMELESSNESS

PEDESTRIAN EXPERIENCE/DESIRES

The Benjamin Franklin Parkway is major green artery in Philadelphia, but how does it connect to the neighborhoods and other green spaces. What is the optimum amount of green space for the density in this area? What spaces do we have now that are not being properly utilized. How can we use green spaces for more than separation between buildings and recreation.

Logan Circle and the lower portion of the Ben Franklin parkway has, in recent history, been a popular spot for homeless persons. If the outdoor dining stops, where will those people go. Who calls this area home, and how do we reconcile need for housing and private property rights? What is the best way we can help those in need?

Arguably the most successful public place in Philadelphia, Rittenhouse Square, is popular because it properly addresses the desires of the pedestrian. It gives the ability for people in the residential neighborhood to the south to take a short cut to their jobs in center city, providing them green space and interaction along the way. How can a similar experience happen on a site with buildings?

EXISTING CONDITIONS

Architecture and planning in the early days of the church was socially idealized.

(Salt Lake City was planned on a sketch Joseph Smith drew which was inspired by the Philadelphia plan.) When the territory applied for statehood in the mid 19thcentury, the cementing Mormon Western culture was ‘americanized’, but pre-1980’s architectural examples still included aspects of many styles.

Diagrams from: Building Zion: The Material World of Mormon Settlement Thomas Carter University of Minnesota Press, 2015

two rows of chandeliers

The general history of Church meetinghouses has been that of simple buildings, built cheaply, but well.

choir/bishopric stand

As the Church is relatively new, traditions for meetinghouse architecture were taken from the various churches and cultures that early converts to the Church were from.

central vault or uplift

focal wall

pulpit

side lighting & accents

pews aisles

classrooms

cultural hall

chapel

Starting in the 1980’s, the Church developed plans for meetinghouses that could be copied throughout the world, but especially in the United States. The plans were efficient - classrooms accessed by hallways which surrounded the major space of the chapel, which was often backed up with a cultural hall to allow for extra seating space if necessary. This often means chapels have no, or very little, natural light, depending on the specific plan. In fact, often the whole exterior style is like a low-slung fortress - dark brick with small windows which are often frosted. This standard for meetinghouse architecture begs the question whether that level of privacy is still needed for the most public kind of building of the Church.

hallway

non-integral steeple

blank facade (of chapel) with pitched roof

set back, but visible entrance

vegetated buffers parking lot church name sign

“Are we living in a Manner that we will have nothing to regret in the future, our surroundings look prosperous, but are we increasing in the faith and good works, or are we giving away to the Spirit of the World?�

-Apostle Franklin D. Richards, Fairview,June 21, 1875

MEETINGHOUSE

SERVICE

RETAIL/OFFICE/COMMUNITY

RESIDENTIAL

30,000sf 2 floors

12,000 sf 1 floor

48,000 sf 2-3 floors

Includes: Chapel Cultural Hall Offices Library Classrooms Baptistery

Includes: Classrooms Offices Sorting Center

275,000sf Condos: 6 floors Apartments: 21 floors

The meetinghouse is used on Sundays and throughout the week for worship and gathering space by both members and non-members. The building is not considered as sacred as the temple and is open to the public.

It is able to serve as the Stake Center for the Philadelphia area, and can hold meetings for two ward at once.

Church meetings would be held from 9am-5pm on Sunday, and the building would often be open for activities on weekday evenings and Saturday.

Service is an important part of life for many Christians. The LDS Church has many subsidiary companies, including Deseret Industries. “DI� sells donations and new products and low costs. The company employs people who are learning English, or who have never worked, or have not worked for a while. Jobs at DI last no longer than 8 months. Housing could be provided for those who are working and taking classes. The community would get to know those who are working at DI, and hopefully would be networking assets to those who need them. The community also volunteers to teach classes, like English as a second language, or computer classes. Youth in the church are very involved in programs like this.

Includes: Fitness Center Day Care Office Space Open Community Room with Food Storage and Kitchen

Includes: 11 Condos 42 Studios 63 1-Bedroom Units 42 2-Bedroom Units 21 3-Bedroom Units

Urban life is enhanced by services located close to home. The retail would be varied, and targeted to residents of the development and surrounding community.

Office space could be used by start up companies, especially those willing to employ who need jobs the most.

The community space serves the garden program and is open to the public, but by design is most welcoming to residents or those determined to visit the gardens.

Residents of the development do not need to be Mormon, but would share a common core of community. The condos would probably be used by Church leadership who live in areas for relatively short periods of time.

Walking home would often mean interacting with people enjoying other parts of the development at any time of day, any day of the week.

500’ 100’

FLOOR 3

FLOOR 6

FRANKLIN TOWNE BLVD

17TH STREET

100’

200’

300’

VINE STREET 400’

WOOD STREET

FLOOR 2

16TH STREET

PV FARM ON ROOF

18� RECESSED VERTICAL WINDOW CELLS FOR E/W ORIENTED APARTMENT TOWER

SOUTHERN EXPORUSE FOR GREEN ROOFS AND COURTYARD PROTRUDING BALCONIES, THICK STRUCTURE, AND MANUVERABLE SUNSCREENING POTENTIAL

The planning of the site starts with the temple, which creates a defining axis for the symmetry of the meetinghouse. The meetinghouse is set apart physically, formally, and materially from the rest of the site. Though not as sacred as the temple, it is respected as a place of worship, with program different from the rest of the site.

Massing of all the buildings allows for maximum exposure to the sky for all of the various open spaces.

The green spaces become the center of interaction for the users of the various programs. The open spaces ramping up the first couple floors are open to the public. This kind of interaction with the building gives the public, patrons, and residents a sense of ownership of the site.

ROOF WATER TANKFEED FOR LARGE EAST GARDEN ROOF

SMALLER CISTERNS FOR GARDEN ROOFS

COURTYARD FOUNTAIN

The Mormon Church has adapted well to globalization.

Many members report experiencing the same welcoming feelings of the spirit when attending meetings anywhere in the world, regardless of language barrier and cultural differences.

This project seeks to pinpoint architectural characteristics of meetinghouses that make them identifiably Mormon. It also aims to affirm that a unique building can still invoke the sense of the spirit and home as a familiar, traditional one.

AIR HANDLING UNITS FOR CONVENTIONAL DUCTED SYSTEM AND PRESSURIZATION UNITS FOR STAIR AND ELEVATOR SHAFTS

VERTICAL FIN WIND TURBINES

AIR HANDLING UNIT FOR CONVENTIONAL HVAC SYSTEM HEAT STACKING EFFECT IN CHAPEL, VENTED THRU OPERABLE PORTIONS OF SKYLIGHT STRUCTURE

MECHANICAL ROOM FOR CONVENTIONAL HVAC SYSTEM

Now, more than ever, there is a need to create a sense of unique place in our cities. Actual, physical location is the one thing that matters in an increasingly connected world.

We may not be able to solve problems around the world, or around the country, but we may be able to on our own street.

COMMUNITY

OFFICE LOBBY

18TH STREET

LDS TEMPLE SERVICES BUILDING

DESERET INDUSTRIES

17TH STREET

16TH STREET 100’

FAMILY COURTS (KIMPOTON HOTEL)

18TH STREET

200’

300’

400’

LDS TEMPLE

The architecture of the project contrasts with the traditional and detailed architecture of the temple in order to respect it and give the whole site different layers of complexity and interaction.

17TH STREET

16TH STREET

EXPWY RAMPS