All Saints Orthodox Church
Andrew found inspiration in the traditional building practices of New Mexico in this proposed design for an Orthodox church. The structural system -- low adobe walls supporting roughly sculpted wood beams, has been in use there for thousands of years. The Spanish mission churches of the 17th-18th centuries provide an excellent precedent for the ornamental style of a church in the Southwest, but the old Catholic churches are too long and narrow for Orthodox liturgy. So this design makes use of wood columns to allow a broad square nave with a simple wood and plaster dome. There is no historic church in the region that has this form, but with use of native materials and details, it sits very comfortably within the local building tradition. The iconostasis carving derives from the Mexican-baroque retablos that adorn the early churches of New Mexico.
