Worship Center

Worship Center in Kingston, Ontario, Canada by Mill & Ross Architects

An experiment in gypsum construction, The MHS PCCC Worship Center in Kingston, Ontario, Canada by Mill & Ross Architects (now HDR Architecture) is a series of small, yet powerful, spaces that carves slots in its curvilinear construction for effect. Inserted into an existing space, the program consists of the main chapel, sacristy and reservation chapel.

The main entry hints at the spaces within through the framing of the doors, the combination of gypsum board with wood, and the location and type of lighting. Once inside the curved walls seem to peel away from each other to provide access to the individual spaces, wood accenting the otherwise monochromatic palette of the gypsum walls and acoustical ceiling tiles.

The primarily horizontal slots in the walls are broken here, rather effectively, in the shape of the cross. These slots serve many functions: breaking up the wall surfaces, allowing relative privacy through their size and locations, and creating the sensation of movement. Overall the openings and the curved walls make the project unique, something that would not be accomplished with either in isolation.

At left one can see (as in the previous image) the addition of a gypsum shelf that is used to hide some can lights to throw light down along the walls to the floor. This is done in a similar way as the entry, tying the inside and outside together, albeit in a subtle way. What remains is the appropriateness of the design to its function as a place for contemplation and prayer. The curved walls seem to embrace, an obvious allusion to St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, while the slots allow light to penetrate, relieving the spaces of any claustrophobia while alluding to a "place beyond".