July 29, 2024
by Tony Manolatos
Photos by Maha Bazzari for Sacred Architecture of San Diego/Tijuana.
AVRP Studios was intimately involved in the design of two buildings, Congregation Beth Israel and Church of the Nativity, featured in a new book that highlights San Diego’s most sacred places.
AVRP led the award-winning design of Beth Israel, and the firm worked in close collaboration with Charles Moore, FAIA, on Church of the Nativity.
“These are two of my favorite structures because they embody so much deep meaning, and because life happens in them. I personally have attended Shabbat and Sunday services, weddings, funerals, baptisms, bat mitzvahs and more in these buildings, along with so many San Diegans,” said Doug Austin, FAIA, Founder and CEO of AVRP Studios.
The book is called “Sacred Architecture of San Diego/Tijuana”. It was written by Rev. Dr. Mark Hargreaves. He is the Rector at St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in La Jolla and curator of a new exhibit, Sacred Architecture of San Diego/Tijuana, at the La Jolla Historical Society. He published The Sacred Architecture of Irving J. Gill last year.
Hargreaves arrived here from England 8 years ago. “My interest in the architecture of California goes back to the first day I arrived,” Hargreaves told the Union-Tribune. “I was just struck by the architecture being so different to how it is in England. For instance, I’ve just come back from England, where my daughter was married in a thousand-year-old church. That’s what we’re used to there. To come here and see all this really modern, contemporary architecture, I really loved it.”
“We have seen how many sacred buildings were designed to look to the future; to express a faith that was relevant to the contemporary age,” Hargreaves says in his new book. “Congregation Beth Israel, by contrast, is redolent of history and tradition. It is a building designed to evoke memories of the past.”
The central idea behind the design, the book notes, is one of connections.
“The lead architect, Doug Austin, of AVRP Studios, designed a building which made a number of significant connections. The first of these connections is with the city of Jerusalem. When Austin, and his colleague Randy Robbins, started working on the project, they traveled to Israel for inspiration.”
“They recognized a striking similarity between the San Diego site and the terrain of Jerusalem. They were also struck by the importance of masonry in the closed urban environment of the city. The concrete blocks which make up the walls of the synagogue mimic Jerusalem stone. The building succeeds in evoking the old city of Jerusalem with its rooftop watchtowers, arches, domes and biblical garden. It is on the monumental scale, but is cleverly nestled on its site, so as not to draw attention to itself.”
The building also is connected with the history of the congregation in San Diego and their two former temples, the book says.
“The chapel has a dome and stained-glass windows which are designed to evoke the memory of Beth Israel’s previous synagogue in downtown San Diego, which had those features,” the book says. “The congregation are gathered around the bimah on curved seating to highlight their connection to each other. And the open space in the center of the roof is symbolic of the people’s connection with God.”
“Church of the Nativity is the final building featured in the new book, and the author says it is exceptional.
“Church of the Nativity is the final building featured in the new book, and the author says it is exceptional.
“This is a magnificent sacred building,” Hargreaves says in his book. “It addressed the shortcomings of modernist designs with enormous flair and imagination.”
The church is set well back from the street and you don’t take a straight line to get there. That was by design to “challenge parishioners to a sense of continual pilgrimage…This lifelong pilgrimage is made of twists and turns, ups and downs; it rarely proceeds in a straight line,” the book says.
It goes on to say: “The Courtyard has a feel of California Mission…The embrace of history and tradition carries on in the sanctuary. The building is meant to inspire a sense of awe in its worshippers (that) represents heaven and promotes community.”
To Robbins, the new book and the recognition bring back fond memories.
“The recognition is really nice and appreciated, and it certainly takes me back to the work that went into the design of these buildings, but what drives us at AVRP is the user experience, the people. What will these buildings make people feel? When we see how beloved these buildings are by the people who use them – well, there’s no greater honor than that.”
Manolatos is a public relations professional, and AVRP Studios is one of his clients.
About AVRP Studios: Celebrating 45+ years of creativity and achievements, the firm and its principals have earned more than 150 design awards, including multiple Gold Nugget Grand Awards from PCBC, a list that includes Grand Awards in 2023 and 2022. AVRP originated in 1976, when Doug Austin began a small design firm out of his home. Today, the firm has designed numerous iconic projects both domestically and internationally. The firm’s project types include urban infill, mixed-use, housing, education, corporate office, multigenerational space, healthcare and more. The firm is led by three principals: Douglas H. Austin, FAIA, LEED AP, MAIBC; Christopher T. Veum, AAIA, IIDA; and Randy Robbins, AIA, LEED AP. Visit www.avrpstudios.com to learn more.