When a church or faith community wishes to build a home suitable for its worship, it faces a multi-step process. It must determine how much space it needs for its activities, find suitable land close to where its members live, ensure that it has sufficient funding, and hire an architect who can turn its faith principles into an inspiring building design. In Contra Costa County, where we reside, the congregation must then obtain a Land Use Permit before proceeding. Sufism Reoriented is a faith community that has embarked on this process. Currently located on Boulevard Way in an unincorporated area near Walnut Creek, we have purchased property one block west of our present church and have submitted a Land Use Permit Application to the County.
35 Years in Temporary SpaceWhen we purchased our current building in 1974, it had been a restaurant and even a nightclub. Although it was not a religious space and not appropriate as a church, it was all we could afford at the time. Because the building was too small to house all our church activities, we had to make choices about what we could do there. We packed up our extensive library of spiritual literature from the world’s great religious traditions and put it in storage. We moved our bookstore to The Meher Schools campus a mile away. We asked members to host chorus rehearsals and youth and young adult discussion meetings in their homes. And because the building was not designed as a sacred space, we spent years remodeling it to make it as conducive to our worship services as possible. Yet from the start, we knew this was a temporary facility and that one day we would build a sanctuary appropriate for our worship and activities. |
A New BeginningAfter three decades, we are fortunate to have purchased sufficient land just one block from our current location where we can realize our long-held dream of constructing a sacred venue to bring all of our activities together. With eighty-five percent of our members now living within two miles of our church and the campus of The Meher Schools located nearby, this location, which is adjacent to our parsonage, is ideal for our congregation. |
The design had to:
- Create a sacred space for our worship that embodies the central symbols of our faith just as the cruciform design of churches embodies the central symbol of Christianity and the pagoda represents the Buddha’s throne
- Accommodate all our activities, including those that are currently housed in our members’ homes or have been set aside due to lack of space
- Fit sensitively into the surrounding neighborhood and not be imposing or dominating
- Abide by all applicable zoning ordinances
- Embrace sound environmental practices
- Honor timeless principles of beauty in a modern building
In searching for a firm that would help us harmonize these disparate requirements into a workable and affordable design, we approached the internationally renowned Philip Johnson / Alan Ritchie firm, known not only for designing major projects around the world but also for their skill in designing small sacred spaces.