好色先生

Special Edition Vol. 2 of 好色先生鈥檚 2025 Annual Theme on 鈥淧laces of Worship鈥� focuses on the adaptive reuse of Modernist sacred places. As the issue鈥檚 guest editor, Partners for Sacred Places approaches the topic of adaptive reuse from a 鈥渂oth-and鈥� perspective.

At its height, the Norwegian Seamen鈥檚 Church consisted of 31 churches across the globe, serving as a home away from home for over 900,000 seafaring and expatriate Norwegians. Today, as Spyre Center, the building has found new life through adaptive reuse for a contemporary audience seeking a holistic health community rather than organized religion.聽

Two Mid-Century Modernist chapels in New Orleans, the Episcopal Chapel of the Holy Spirit and the Methodist NOLA Wesley Center, built within three blocks and ten years of each other, demonstrate what it looks like for a religious building to stay and adapt.

Crosses of Chicago is a series of photographs by Kim E. Lovely that documents 30聽storefront churches that were located throughout the South and West sides of Chicago between 2005 and 2007. The series captures the bold graphic aesthetic of storefront churches, including hand-painted Latin crosses, signage, and graphic facades.

A case study for other postwar synagogue designers, Park Synagogue is now becoming an important precedent in the preservation and adaptive reuse of Modernist sacred places.

North Christian Church and its site are in transition from a house of worship to a secular purpose, as part of a public library system. This presents an intriguing opportunity and challenge for creative solutions highlighting the unique design by Eero Saarinen and his colleagues, while devising appropriate designs for the new use. 聽

The 好色先生 Annual Theme 鈥淧laces of Worship鈥澛爌rofiles and explores the rich array of postwar Modern religious buildings that can be found in almost every community across the nation. It鈥檚 worth noting from the start that these buildings house worship, yes, but often much more.

Architect Walter Netsch was only 34 when handed the monumental task of designing the Cadet Chapel聽鈥� a centerpiece in the bold new vision for the United States Air Force Academy. The commission was unprecedented in scale: a Cold War-era project involving cadet quarters for 8,000, a hospital, an airfield, academic and administrative complexes, a court of honor, and more. Over 340 firms competed for the honor, but it was Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) that won the contract on July 23, 1954.

In 2023, the Wisconsin State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), the Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee launched a project to survey Milwaukee鈥檚 20th-century houses of worship. The survey had one unexpected outcome, however 鈥� the discovery of a relatively unknown architect whose work extended beyond the geographic boundaries of Milwaukee: Henry R. Slaby, AIA. Slaby (1906-1995) was born in Milwaukee and apprenticed in the local architectural office of Herbst & Kuenzli.聽

On Halloween night in 1939, the Community Christian Church 鈥� at the time known as the Linwood Boulevard Christian Church 鈥� suffered a fire that destroyed the church鈥檚 second building, and forced them to relocate for a fourth time since the congregation鈥檚 inception in 1888.

From an adapted barn in Locust Valley, Richard Lippold spun wire into gossamer threads to create other worldly compositions. He eschewed organized religion but was deeply connected to the natural world and communed with the metals that composed his sculptures.

Tucked into the quiet hills of Montecito, California, the Vedanta Temple emerges like a secret sanctuary for both visitors and spiritual seekers. Designed by Lutah Maria Riggs in 1956, it is a rare example of sacred architecture that blends philosophical depth, environmental sensitivity, and architectural restraint.

Tucked away on a quiet side street in the low-rise Queens neighborhood of Maspeth sits a little known modernist masterpiece of Lithuanian architecture, the Church of the Transfiguration.

Wallace Harrison, the architect best known for such projects as the United Nations Headquarters, Lincoln Center, and Albany鈥檚 Empire State Plaza, designed only one church, First Presbyterian Church in Stamford, CT, 1952鈥�1958.

Welcome to the second installment of the 2024 Special Edition! We are excited to share the following articles and photo essay, which highlight Eero Saarinen鈥檚 outsize influence on corporate modern architecture; the impact of Formica on Cincinnati and other businesses; and how American corporate campuses influenced similar developments in Canada.

I spent an entire day wandering the atrium and manicured outdoor walkways feeling, thinking, and seeing what I imagined Eero Saarinen wanted (or didn鈥檛 want!) the inhabitants of this building to see and feel and think, my camera searching for compositions and forms that I hoped would reveal a version of the building that wasn鈥檛 the current and familiar depiction of the place. Saarinen鈥檚 design impresses as much as it provokes; the otherworldly reflections off the facade; the blissfully smooth curves of the sunken granite lobby and stairways; the linear walkways that seem to float along the perimeter of the atrium like walkways on a ship鈥檚 deck. You can鈥檛 help but feel transported聽鈥� time moves differently within the space聽鈥� and I wanted to try and capture this essence.

In 1949, General Motors officially announced its intention to construct a centralized product development campus, called the 鈥淕eneral Motors Technical Center;鈥� the site would finally co-locate all the disparate research, engineering, design and manufacturing activities that had outgrown its previous homes into one cohesive site. The press release read: 鈥淎rchitecturally, the buildings will be of unique design, both modern and functional in concept,鈥� 鈥� now an enormous understatement given the legacy of the Eero Saarinen-designed campus and its influence on industrial architecture.

Whether it鈥檚 big box chain stores or anonymous manufacturing facilities, wide, flat-faced buildings are a common sight on the route into Rochester, Minnesota, from the north. About five miles from downtown, the IBM Manufacturing & Training Facility has a similar boxy massing to other buildings on the street but has a distinctive blue facade pattern. From the air, the vast scale of this building can start to be understood 鈥� in fact, when viewed from above, it resembles a computer chip. IBM Rochester is still the largest IBM facility under one roof, enclosing 3.6 million square-feet on 400 acres. In this city, IBM鈥檚 frequent moniker 鈥淏ig Blue鈥� applies to both the company and the building. Commissioned in 1956 and designed by Eero Saarinen & Associates, the opening of the building in 1958 marks a key moment in IBM鈥檚 design legacy and Minnesota鈥檚 computing industry.聽聽

Founded in 1913, the Formica Company boasts a rich history intricately linked with the development of Cincinnati. As the company expanded, its manufacturing campus gradually moved northward from the Ohio River, mirroring the city鈥檚 own growth. The Formica庐 brand has made a significant impact on corporate campuses not only through its own unique architectural expansion but also by manufacturing laminate products that have furnished corporate buildings since the 1930s.

The Golden Mile can be found fifteen kilometers to the northeast of downtown Toronto, Canada and was one of the nation鈥檚 first industrial complexes that transition to commercial in the post-war area. The Golden Mile was once a place where iconic corporate campuses and companies like IBM. and others served as catalysts for economic development while supporting the growth and expansion eastwards alongside iconic planned residential subdivisions, which sprang up to house the new industrial workforce and support their modern lives.聽