Spring, Texas 
Photography: Paul Hester, Celeste Ponce

The client approached us with a series of design constraints for their 10,000 square foot prefabricated temporary sanctuary. These included a modest budget of $60 per square foot, the limitations imposed by the building manufacturer, and the challenge of redefining sacred space without natural light. The pastor requested we set aside traditional notions of church architecture and instead create a “black box” environment suitable for his illustrated sermons.

Our goal was to make the most impact within these constraints while establishing a unique identity for this innovative church. The solution was an undulating roof that became a defining feature of the church. It drew attention while blending with the surrounding landscape, incorporating the site’s existing trees that punctuated the roof. The roof’s dynamic form is also connected with the movement of the adjacent interstate.

By reducing the design to its most essential prefabricated elements—windowless facades, roof slope, material, and structural constraints—we created a design free of unnecessary ornamentation. This simplification allowed the form to be interpreted in various ways. In this way, the design’s form is the sum of its “constrained” parts while challenging traditional notions of worship and sacredness inside a black box.