'Sacred Modernity - The Holy Embrace of Modernist Architecture'
'Sacred Modernity - The Holy Embrace of Modernist Architecture'
Dezeen - "unique beauty and architectural innovation"
CNN - Big, bold and made of concrete: Why these European churches defy tradition
The Guardian - The heavy hand of God: Europe’s brutalist churches
Die Presse - Kirchen und Architektur: Geheiligt seien die Mittel
Wallpaper*Magazine - A photographer’s pilgrimage around Europe’s most spectacular modern churches
Archdaily -An Exploration of the Modernist Movement in Mid-Century Holy Architecture
Fast Company - These Seven Catholic Church's Are Unlike Anything You Have Seen Before
30 x 24 CM - HARDBACK
208 PAGES, 139 COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHS
TEXTS FROM JAMIE MCGREGOR SMITH, IVICA BRNIĆ AND JONATHAN MEADES
FIRST EDITION, FEB 2024
Sacred Modernity documents the dramatic shift in ecclesiastical architecture across post-war Europe. Spurred on by the modernizing impulses of the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, and in search for an appropriate architectural language that showed that the Catholic Church was still relevant to the modern world, this was the period when the church married the atheist architect, and bore a child of pure form. Among these structures, some exude a joyful antagonism, while others emanate a cold minimalism. Boldly designed, outrageous and provocative for their time, the aesthetic of this period still ignites great debate between modernists and traditionalists.
Half a century on, this study traces how their materials and ideals have matured and patinated. Remaining amongst the most unique buildings within our public sphere, they are future visions from the near past unlike anything in our architecture landscape.
First Edition Published March 2024 - 1000 Copies
Second Edition Published Sept 2024 - 1500 Copies