This Is The Best Religious Architecture Of 2015

Sacred space is hard to define, but it's something many of us have experienced in our lives. The challenge for designers and architects is to find ways of evoking the divine through structures and shapes.

Every year for the past 30 years, Faith & Form magazine and the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture have honored outstanding religious architecture and design through their annual awards program . This year's winners were selected by a panel of five independent judges, and they demonstrate the diverse and creative ways in which human beings experience and depict the sacred.

View the 16 winners of the 2015 Faith & Form/IFRAA Religious Art and Architecture Award below:

St. Katharine Drexel Chapel, New Orleans

Jeff Goldberg/Esto

(Religious Architecture, New Facilities)
Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Oregon New Home, Bend, Oregon

Lara Swimmer

(Religious Architecture, New Facilities)
Hacker

Mission San Juan Capistrano, San Antonio

Mark Menjivar

(Religious Architecture, Restoration)
Ford, Powell & Carson Architects & Planners, Inc.

The Memorial Church, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Blind Dog

(Religious Architecture, Restoration)
Finegold Alexander Architects

Immanuel Chapel, Alexandria, Virginia

Peter Aaron/OTTO

(Religious Architecture, New Facilities)
Robert A.M. Stern Architects

The Light of Christs Salvation Church, Taichung, Taiwan

Wei-Ming Ruan, Te-Fan Wang

(Religious Architecture, New Facilities)
AMBi. Studio / Wei-Li Liao Architect

Our Lady of Montserrat Chapel, Seattle

Andrew Pogue

(Religious Architecture, New Facilities)
Hennebery Eddy Architects

St. Pius Chapel and Prayer Garden, New Orleans

Will Crocker Photography

(Religious Architecture, New Facilities)
Eskew+Dumez+Ripple

St. Edward Catholic Church, Keizer, Oregon

George King

(Religious Architecture, New Facilities)
DiLoreto Architecture

Saint Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, West Jordan, Utah

Dana Sohm

(Religious Architecture, New Facilities)
Sparano + Mooney Architecture

RockPointe Church, Flower Mound, Texas

Charles Davis Smith

(Religious Architecture, New Facilities)
Oglesby Greene Architects

St. Vincent de Paul Church, Albany, New York

Michael F. Joyce

(Religious Architecture, Renovation)
Richard S. Vosko, Hon. AIA

Congregation Beth Israel, Vancouver, Canada

Michael Elkan

(Religious Architecture, Adaptive Reuse/Repurpose)
Acton Ostry Architects Inc.

New Orleans East Hospital Chapel, New Orleans

Mark Bienvenu

(Religious Architecture, Liturgical/Interior Design)
Manning Architects/Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, A Joint Venture

St. Monica Catholic Church, Dallas

DVDesign

(Religious Architecture, Liturgical/Interior Design)
Fisher Heck Architects

Fiedler Atrium, Dallas

Nick McWhirter

(Religious Architecture, Liturgical/Interior Design)
GFF Architects

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