All Saints’ Subtle Symbolism

The community at All Saints Church in Knoxville, Tennessee has a great pride in the church that they built. The parish began in a warehouse down the street, and eventually were able to build their own church building. Many of them speak so highly of the process of searching out craftsmen and artists to give their community a home. They enjoy pointing out each piece that they commissioned from local artists, none of it ordered from a church supply catalogue.

When listening to them describe their love for the church, it feels like I too should share in that love too. But they still haven’t won me over, although its symbolism is enchanting, it remains a bit bare. The church has a focus on the communal, with a rounded style of pews. There remains a clear main focus of the altar, but the semi circle shape of the congregation seeks to be welcoming and friendly, while still focused on the altar as the heart of worship. The walls and stained glass windows of the church are quite simple as the community hoped to feature the woodwork pieces as more of the focal point. The colors are quite muted and natural throughout the church, aside from the stained glass. There is a continuing image of the vine and the branches that goes throughout the top of the stained glass at the top, in honor of the mission verse of the parish “I am the vine, you are the branches.” The stained glass features all of the colors of the liturgical year, which is wonderful symbolism, yet not a common color palate together.

There was a focus on spherical shapes in the design of the church which are meant to culminate in the three dimension sphere which is in the center of the base of the altar. This solidifies the focal point as being the altar by design. However the modern communal form is showcased in the large gathering space in the narthex. It includes a service counter specifically designed for the beloved after mass donuts.

The community designed a church to suit their needs and personality. If commissioned as architect, I would have taken many of the original intentions of the space but into a slightly different direction. There was a desire to have a wood/natural look to the space to suit the area of east Tennessee however this was taken to an extreme, and very little metal is scene throughout the space. A mixing of wood with precious metals is possible and would be the goal of my primary change, to design a new tabernacle that uses some precious metals. The contrast of wood to gold would be striking and focusing. There was great intention put into the way a person enters into the church and approaches the altar, including the placement of the baptismal font in the middle of the aisle as you enter the Church, reminding us of our baptism. I think the sense of movement and entrance would be enhanced by a tapestry, mural, or other art to accompany the crucifix and draw the eye forward to where the altar and tabernacle reside. The church was built with a rich symbolism, but it is subtle. In its subtlety and goal of being natural looking, it misses a chance for aesthetic impact. It could be filled with more to gaze upon and meditate, along with the symbolism that we perhaps recognizes subconsciously as we move about the space.