Detail of the project ed. 2020

ZEC­CHET­TO REN­ZO – CHURCH OF ST THOMAS MORE

Design­er Zec­chet­to Renzo
Loca­tion 1450 S. Mel­rose Dri­ve, Ocean­side, Cal­i­for­nia 92056
Design Team

Ren­zo Zec­chet­to, AIA- Prin­ci­pal Designer
Tay­lor Hsiao, Project Manager
Mike Steb­bins, Minya Radenkovich, Rob Rom­bold, Sebas­tiano Zec­chet­to, Project Designers
Alex Gar­cia, Site Architect.
Year 2015
Pho­to credits

Dar­ren Bradley — Exter­nal Pho­tos: 1,2,3 and 5. Inter­nal: 2,3,4 and 5.
Tay­lor Hsiao- Exter­nal Pho­tos: 4. Inter­nal: 1

Pho­to external

Project descrip­tion

The church is sit­ed on a gen­t­ly-sloped hill a dis­tance away from the Oceanside’s coast yet still reached by the cool ocean breezes.
The build­ing mass­ing, flanked by a 60-foot bell tow­er, is com­posed of sol­id vol­umes oppos­ing the West­ern sun. Stag­gered walls redi­rect light soft­ly to the inte­ri­or to define the space of the sanc­tu­ary with nat­ur­al light.
In response to the desire to gath­er around pro­tect­ed exte­ri­or spaces, a sequence of gar­dens and courts were arranged to pro­vide a sense of repose and con­tem­pla­tion to the parishioners.
The Sanc­tu­ary design empha­sizes the assem­bly itself as the cen­ter of the litur­gi­cal cel­e­bra­tion. A par­tic­i­pa­to­ry arrange­ment of seat­ing sur­round­ing the altar includes a large choir and organ area to
enhance the celebration.
The mate­ri­als select­ed for the inte­ri­or, traver­tine floors, exposed con­crete walls, and cher­ry wood ceil­ings were cho­sen and arranged to enhance the acousti­cal envi­ron­ment for music.
The space was also mod­u­lat­ed for the spo­ken word by means of soft absorp­tive mate­ri­als above the lou­vered ceil­ing and also by the use of steer­able loud­speak­ers aimed to avoid the rever­ber­ant surfaces.
The exte­ri­or palette of mate­ri­als is restrained as well. Exposed cast-in-place con­crete, smooth cement plas­ter, glass, and accents of phe­no­lic nat­ur­al wood paneling.

Illus­tra­tive project report
Down­load report

Pho­to internal

Tech­ni­cal drawings

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