Leonard Sweet on church architecture

Leonard Sweet, one of my favorite Dr. Strangelove church voices, posts an engaging set of principles about postmodern church buildings.  In his usual fashion, he quotes obscure items and makes them current while saying profound things in profound ways, all the while pulling it off without ever sounding arrogant.  That's a rare man. 

Here's my condensation and commentary on his "10 Commandments of Architecture for the Postmodern Church":

1. Thou shalt not make a graven image.
   • Sweet seems to be concerned here that the building does not become a celebration of its designers/builders but is instead "designed for recycling. It's egalitarian, mobile, and adaptable for multiple use."  I think the other side of this is that the building itself not be worshipped as sacred but kept in proper perspective and used up for God.  I think we need to grow in the area of maxing out the space God has entrusted us, frankly.
2. Thou shalt not create ugliness.
   • This is a classic Sweetlet:  "Vitruvius [you know, that guy], said in his manual On Architecture that a building should have the qualities of (1) commodity, (2) firmness, and (3) delight. By commodity, he meant user-friendliness. By firmness, he meant integrity: the building does what it says it does—it doesn't fall down or leak. By delight, Vitruvius meant joy and beauty."
3. Thou shalt design for all senses.
   • The Orthodox Church, in all its forms, already does this.  They've been 5 sense innovators since the Middle Ages and before.  This is not new ground but the idea of capturing more of the senses in worship captures my interest--if its not done with distraction and as a replacement to the spoken word in preaching and worship.
4. Thou shalt have a sense of place.
   • This is quite similar to Theology of Place.  I think this is my favorite of Sweet's list.  What it says about reflecting the community where a church resides is huge, especially in a community like Chicago with so many different neighborhoods.  The Catholic church gets this well in much of its architecture--or it least it did back when the buildings were built.
5. Thou shalt get real.
   • In the retrofitting of a Restart congregation, this can be an expensive challenge.  Our Lakeview building was constructed under a different church architecture philosophy.  Little open space, every room seemingly on a different level of floor, lots of passages and hallways.  It does not reflect the open design model that I prefer and that is more current.  Its hard to refit the buildings but some of our locations are doing a good job and we're doing what we can with the Lakeview building.
6. Thou shalt build a living church.
   • "Where else but in churches do postmoderns experience architectural spaces with hard benches, dark woods, and elevated presiders? he asks. Only in courtrooms, which are known for judgment; and funeral homes, which harbor death." 
   • Well stated.  That's why when we revitalize older church buildings, we try to keep some sense of the old without having distracting elements that congure up a wrong environmental response.
7. Thou shalt get the church out of doors.
   • Sweet's nudge toward outdoor amphitheaters (in the right climate--not Chicago) is already being considered/pursued by the church Francis Chan pastors in SoCal.  I love the hear behind Chan's decision--a desire to redirect building funds to serve the mission of kingdom advancement.
8. Thou shalt love thy setting.
   • This is Sweet's green-friendly command.  It applies mostly to new construction though we've talked about rooftop gardens as a way to retro-green some of our older buildings.  What I like about the rooftop garden is its going back the way we came--rooftops have a lot of biblical history.
9. Thou shalt build smart churches.
   • Here Sweet is at his best--proposing a radical rethink about every surface of the church as "a living organism that responds to human touch..."  Cool thought.  Probably will happen.  And the thing is, every display on every surface can be generated through light and projection and then rethought as needed.
10. Thou shalt create new God-glorifying spaces.
    • "The essence of architecture is the imbuing of matter with spirit until the spirit is uplifted."  And that is a fitting final statement to the matter... for now.