SIGAL Gallery at the District Architecture Center Washington D.C.
Feb 19–Mar 25, 2014

Professing Architecture

Connecting Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality
A new National Immigration Museum, Section (left) by Chris Motley and Kristen Weller, and Central Courtyard (right) by Eric Hofman and Matthew Schmalzel
Address
7th street NW, Washington, Washington D.C. DC 20004
Hours
Mon–Thu 10am–7pm, Fri 10am–5 am pm, Sat 10am–2pm
Website
aiadac.com
E-Mail
mfitch@aiadc.com

Instructed by Associate Professor Julio Bermudez, Ph.D. and Dean Randall Ott, AIA with 2013 Walton Critic (Visiting Scholar) Claudio Silvestrin, Architect, this exhibition will feature eight speculative projects by graduate and undergraduate students of the Catholic University of America School of Architecture and Planning’s Sacred Space and Cultural Studies (SSCS) Studio.

The studio explored advanced ideas of architectural design as related to the SSCS concentration using three projects, including a National Immigration Museum on the Mall, a Homeless Shelter in Chinatown, and a Nursery/Kindergarten in Downtown, as pedagogical vehicles to study the spiritual, cultural, and embodied dimensions of architecture.

In particular, the premise for a National Immigration Museum project was to explore both a compelling American story and the architectural implications of a building or structure with conceptual, experiential, and symbolic dimensions in a space considered sacred like the National Mall. The Homeless Shelter project aimed to respond with uplifting and spiritual solutions to a building typology that supports the multifunctional needs of the homeless and other at-risk persons. The idea of the Nursery/Kindergarten project was to address the educational needs of young learners in the most comprehensive way through enlightened and thoughtful design strategies.