Sacred Modernity: The Holy Embrace of Modernist Architecture is the first photographic survey to bring post-war ecclesiastical architecture — from Brutalism to Structural Expressionism — under a singular artistic vision, tracing how these provocative buildings have matured across half a century.
About This Book
When the Second Vatican Council issued its modernising impulse in the early 1960s, the Catholic Church embarked on a collision course with secular architecture. The results were extraordinary: buildings that ranged from joyful antagonism to cold minimalism, their boldness still igniting debate between modernists and traditionalists today. Sacred Modernity is Jamie McGregor Smith's attempt to document this strange and fertile moment — photographing mid-century ecclesiastical architecture as a unified body of work and examining how its materials and ideals have patinated with time. For architects, historians, and anyone interested in the intersection of faith and modernist design, this is an essential record of buildings that continue to feel like future visions from the recent past.
Key Features
- 200 pages of photographic documentation spanning post-war ecclesiastical architecture across Europe
- Photography and concept by Jamie McGregor Smith
- Published by Hatje Cantz Verlag
What You'll Discover
- How the Second Vatican Council catalysed a radical reimagining of Catholic church design in the early 1960s
- The formal range of mid-century ecclesiastical architecture, from Brutalism's raw materiality to the dynamic language of Structural Expressionism
- How these buildings — controversial at the time of their construction — now seem to anticipate contemporary society's shift from organised religion toward individual spirituality
- The first photographic attempt to collate the religious architecture of the mid-century high modern years under a cohesive artistic framework
About the Author
Jamie McGregor Smith is a photographer whose work on Sacred Modernity represents the first sustained effort to document post-war ecclesiastical architecture as a unified photographic study. His approach draws together buildings of divergent formal languages — Brutalist, Expressionist, and minimalist — under a single artistic vision.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 200
- Dimensions: 31.12 x 22.86 x 2.03 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783775756464
- Publisher: Hatje Cantz Verlag
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects and designers drawn to sacred space and modernist form, architectural historians researching post-war European ecclesiastical buildings, and photographers interested in documenting the built environment.