Profile

Christian Science Center

Boston, Massachusetts
Completed 1970

Lead Designer: Araldo A. Cossutta

Expansion and consolidation of the Mother Church compound
 

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This sprawling urban complex is part of a three-phase master plan to provide the world headquarters of the Christian Science Church with a more open and welcoming environment while simultaneously regenerating the surrounding community. It is a work of repose that attempts to resolve structure, form and space through the unifying element of architecture.

To match the limestone of the existing Mother Church, each component of the expansion program was cast in precision-formed architectural concrete. By this strategy all visible elements, such as walls, columns and beams are structurally and mechanically integrated within an inseparable, but flexible, whole. A 670-foot-long reflecting pool along the eastern axis of the site helps to visually bind the different components together while providing a friendly realm for interaction with the surrounding city. The pool, located on the roof of a 600-car underground garage, also functions as the cooling tower for the complex.

In 1979 the Mother Church was enhanced with a new stone portico for greater access and a more sympathetic relation to Boston's Horticultural Hall and S ymphony Hall, two key cultural landmarks that face the church on the south.

Major Components

3-story Sunday School with 1,100-seat auditorium (35,000 s/f); 28-story Church Administration Building (275,000 s/f ); 5-story Church Colonnade Building with offices, public reading room, exhibition space, employee cafeteria and lounges, a television and radio studio on the top floor, and basement level truck docks, maintenance and support (175,000 s/f); underground 600-car garage; 6.2-acre landscaped open spaces with 670'x 110' reflecting pool and 80' diameter fountain; Phase II: semi-circular Church portico and 3 acres landscaped open space

Awards

I. M. Pei & Partners services

Master Planning; Complete Architectural Services

Structural

Weiskopf & Pickworth, New York, NY

Mechanical / Electrical

Syska & Hennessey Inc., New York, NY

Planning

Vincent Ponte

Landscape

Sasaki, Dawson, DeMay Associates, Watertown, MA  

Traffic

Travers Associates, Clifton, NJ

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