AWARD FOR SACRED LANDSCAPE
Odeon in the Green Mountains Dan Snow Killington, VT
For those who gathered at Mission Farm in the Green Mountains in recent years, the conversation centered on having more spaces to connect, share stories, and listen to music. By identifying common spaces and celebrating them, the group hoped to end isolation in their community and nurture a new relationship to the land that they steward.
The community members wished to craft an assemblage of stones into a space that would concentrate the earth’ s energy into a light-capturing atmosphere. Two belief systems would have to intersect and amplify one another to bring the project to successful completion.
Two weeks after the Odeon’ s completion and three days after community volunteers rolled out fresh sod between the terraced seats, the 2023 Mountain and Meadows Festival took place. There was food and music, conversation, and reflection. People joined together to make the place come alive, and space and energy became one.
JURY COMMENTS: The larger stones act as an extension from the stone church. The level of detail in the placement of the stones makes it belong to the landscape, that it has always been here. Spirituality extends into the landscape.
Oliver Parini
HONOR AWARD FOR STUDENT WORK
A Chapel for Concordia Nathan Walz Seward, NE
Concordia University Nebraska has a reputation for excellent church worker programs focused on service within the Lutheran Church. What the college does not have, despite its faith-based mission, is any sort of chapel or dedicated place of worship.
The best buildings span many lifetimes and eras. The built environment that our communities inherit stands as a constant, whether we choose to celebrate or reject it. The central concern, therefore, is not about designing a building that is of its time but rather a building that is of its place. Responding to the Nebraska climate, the design includes masonry walls, pitched roofs, and long vertical windows. At the same time, the rugged exterior and stripped-down massing contribute to the sense that the chapel has grown up out of the prairie, a vertical punctuation on a long, horizontal expanse.
This project was shaped by Concordia Nebraska, the American Midwest, and the global Lutheran Church. Nothing is copied: the design that resulted is evocative, not repetitive. It brings to life the idea that the construction of something new can connect us back to our roots— to community, history, and faith.
JURY COMMENTS: The drawings are stunning. For a student project, the level of thoughtfulness and thoroughness is exceptional. The quality of the presentation conveys the feeling of a space you want to be in.
Nathan Walz
28 SACRED PLACES • SUMMER 2025