AIA Gulf States Region Honors 13 Projects

Zaha Hadid’s Quicksilver Forms Fuse Together Another Guggenheim Hermitage Museum
As they leave Las Vegas, the two art giants look on to Lithuania
The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania, unites formally and functionally disparate gallery types within a richly multifaceted whole. Although it’s a singularly iconic presence that seems formally divorced from its immediate context, it is designed to be porous and communicative with the surrounding urban fabric.

Worship Centers Create Town Center Atmosphere
Community-oriented worship centers that resemble town centers are becoming more prevalent among Protestant denominations across the country. An average-sized worship center seats approximately 1,500 persons. In cases where seating capacity is as large as 2,000 plus, such as the Corona Christian Church in Irving, Calif., the structures are labeled mega-churches. Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., seats 18,000. In addition to worship space, the worship centers and mega-churches offer a wide range of life-care and recreation activities that can include schools, child care, counseling centers, computer-learning centers, job retraining services, basketball courts, baseball fields, aerobic and dance studios, and lounges. Retail can also be present in some worship centers—for example, coffee bars, private restaurants, and large cafeterias—that may operate as a separate corporation and would pay municipal taxes. The design goal for the worship center is to create a mixed-use, “worshipful” center that allows people to feel comfortable and relaxed so they interact in capacities beyond the actual worship service.