Duncan Stroik
Professor Stroik received his architectural education from the University of Virginia and Yale University. Following graduation, he served as a project designer for the architect Allan Greenberg, with whom he designed a number of prestigious civic, institutional, collegiate and residential projects. Since 1990 Stroik has taught classical architecture at the University of Notre Dame, hailed by the New York Times as the “Athens of the new movement.”. Professor Stroik is also the principal of Duncan G. Stroik Architect, LLC, which has specialized in ecclesiastical architecture for twenty years.
Articles by Duncan Stroik
Editorial: Architectura Sacra
Welcome to the inaugural issue of Sacred Architecture, a journal committed to the promotion of the cultural heritage of the Church. In publishing a variety of articles and news items, Sacred Architecture sees its mission as keeping you up to date on how bricks and mortar are being used to build up the City of God.
Ten Myths of Contempory Church Architecture
There are many so-called principles of church architecture which are in reality myths.
Editorial: Vocatio Architecti
One of the reasons that we are amazed by the beauty of architectural masterpieces is that they appear to go beyond the ability of mortals to conceive them. Their harmony and proportions seem to have been constructed by angels. In order to bring to fruition these sacred works, ranging from the nave of Amiens Cathedral to the exterior of San Vincent de Paul in Los Angeles, many hills have to be climbed.
Environment and Art in Catholic Worship - A Critique
By all accounts, the past forty years have produced few church buildings that the American laity are proud of and fewer of which the cultural establishment approves. No doubt some credit for the present state of architecture should be given to a small booklet entitled Environment and Art in Catholic Worship (EACW) presently being revised.
Editorial: Domus Dei et Porta Coeli
Editorial: Domus Eucharistica
Over the years, church buildings have received numerous titles: domus Ecclesiae, domus Dei, temple of the most high, image of the eternal, holy place, and body of Christ. John Cardinal Newman called churches gospel palaces. In this Jubilee year dedicated to the Eucharist it is appropriate to reflect on the domus Eucharistica, the church as a Eucharistic house. Our churches are the places we gather to eucharist, to thank God for His marvelous gifts.
Editorial: Operosam Decoramque Reconstructionem
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Editorial: Rerum Supernarum Signa et Symbola
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One Step Forward: An Analysis of Built of Living Stones
People often ask me what texts one should read in preparation for designing or renovating a Catholic church.
Editorial: Mater et Caput
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Editorial: Caveat Emptor
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Editorial: Hoc Ipsum Dei Genetricem Sanctam Virginem
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Editorial: Venite et Videbitis
What is it that makes a Catholic church different from other churches?
Editorial: Imago Dei, Imago Video
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Quinlan Terry: The Survival of Classicism
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Editorial: Forma Extraodinaria
One of the myths that continue to haunt us is the notion that Vatican II required a totally new architecture to provide for the radically new liturgy.
Pew Americana
This series of essays, edited by Louis Nelson, examines how people have interpreted the idea of the sacred in American history.
Editorial: Ecclesiam Aedificat Eucharistia
Just as the Cathedral liturgy is meant to be an example for the diocese so too should be the art and architecture of the Cathedral.
Editorial: Catechismus in Lapidem
People often ask me why we have not been building beautiful churches in recent decades. It is not a simple answer of course: there are the changes from Vatican II; the embrace of modernism by the architectural profession; the expense of craftsmanship; the parsimony of the faithful; and the belief that the church is merely a functional building. Today, when laity and clergy alike desire to build beautiful churches again they are confronted with a limitation that their great grandparents did not have to contend with: the strict monetary policies of the diocese.
Transubstantiated Architecture: Painterly Perspective and Piety
The discovery, or rediscovery, of linear perspective in the Italian Renaissance is usually credited to Filippo Brunelleschi, the architect of the dome of the Florence Cathedral. Another nearby monument that may be the first existing example of one-point perspective is the funerary chapel in Santa Maria Novella painted by Masaccio in 1428. In a complex and theologically rich explication of Masaccio’s Holy Trinity, with the Virgin, Saint John and Donors, John Moffitt argues that the point to which all of the lines converge is placed at the bottom of the picture in order to correspond with the elevation of the host during Mass. Thus God the Father stands on an altar and presents his crucified Son to the viewer within a perspectival architecture that converges on the Eucharist. The consecrated host becomes the liturgical focal point of the chapel and of the painting.
