Green Mormon Architect: August 2021™
The Leura chapel is located in the Blue Mountains of Australia in New South Wales, near Sydney. Designed in 1980 by Dale Swan from the firm of Ancher/Mortlock/Woolley and built in 1983, this is a striking departure from the Standard Plans program administered by Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City. I was very pleased to learn of its existence this week. The design incorporates simple, clean lines into the building. This allows for building costs that are in line with Standard Plan meetinghouses of similar size. The white exterior building materials and roof reflect the hot Australian sun away, helping to keep the building cool, providing energy savings, and a building that stands out in the neighborhood. The cultural hall opens up into the barrel-vaulted corridor and beyond into an open courtyard space for activities, directly linking the interior and exterior. The font for the building is located at the entry lobby with step-down seating leading to the waters edge for viewing. The location of the font here is a sermon all by itself teaching the importance of baptism to the LDS Church. Baptisms are arguably the most important ordinance performed in our meetinghouses. And yet the space for baptism is in many cases unimportant with regard to its placement in the building. Putting the font behind closed doors hidden in a back classroom does little to promote our understanding of the importance of baptism. The font here exists in the most visible space of the building. This type of approach to the building of sacred space assemblies of god church builders is recognized by the community who have embraced the building, the members who use the building, and the design professionals who have awarded the building with deserving public recognition. The building also becomes a missionary face for the Church that clearly communicates the gospel principles of baptism, the light of Christ, the living water, renewal, and community. Repeating this chapel as part of the Standard Plan program would endear members to their buildings and be a place of joy for members of the community to rally around and support. Unfortunately no building has been built in the past 25 years that resembles this, nor have any of the innovations or features discovered here by the architect been used elsewhere in LDS buildings. It is rumored that the presiding bishop, during a tour of the building said the Church would never again build a meetinghouse like this. And none ever have. This is the only recent LDS Meetinghouse I am aware of that has been published or honored with an award because of its beauty and architectural merit. If there are other recent modern LDS chapels out there that you are familiar with, that are of good report or praiseworthy, I would be interested to learn of them.
