2024

Competition Theme
Prepared by
Manuel Maximo Lopez del Castillo Noche
Overall Design Chair

Heavenly Bodies
Reinterpretation of Catholic Imagery through
Architecture
Introduction
• In 2018, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which houses
the collection of the Costume Institute held its annual exhibit and ball
with the theme “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic
Imagination”.
• The exhibits' goal was to highlight Catholic religious imagery into
fashion, using religion and liturgical vestments created and defined by
the Catholic Church.
• Designers past and present utilized and highlighted the Catholic
Church’s almost two Millenium rich history, imagery and iconography
into fashion creations worthy of being called Fashion and Art.

Goal
• Copying the Theme “Heavenly Bodies” the goal of this year's Design
Competition is to use the same idea transposed instead into
architecture.
• Without using familiar Architectural Models, the student designer
should reimagine the building type assigned using a multitude of
Catholic Imagery.
• These imagery can be found and transcribed from historical buildings,
e.g. churches and cathedrals, elements of religious architecture;
Religious personalities and or spectral visions, Interior and Furniture
elements, religious clothing, and many more
• The goal is NOT to design something familiar, e.g. buildings should
NOT LOOK LIKE A CHURCH, but instead utilize Catholic Ideas and
Imagery and transposing such into new Architecture that is devoid of
Religious Meaning
• It is the goal of the Student to expand their imagination using the
theme to create new and exciting architecture
• Students design skills and talents would be put to the test, and will
require students to have a clear understanding of Catholic Religious
Design and Architecture, and at the same time deconstruct such
familiar imagery to create new forms

Inspiration
• As previously stated, the theme for this year's Competition Plate
revolves around the Catholic Church
• As the College of Architecture, University of Santo Tomas is a
Pontifical, Royal, and Catholic Institution, images of the Catholic faith,
outside of devotion and liturgy should be familiar to all.
• As Fashion is a wearable art, architecture on the other hand is a
liveable art
• Both begins with inspiration from similar art and design skills. One
from a Fashion Designer, the other from an Architect
• Numerous famed Fashion Designers studied and even practiced
Architecture
• Pierre Cardin
• Tom Ford
• Pierre Balmain
• Zaha Hadid
• Hussein Chalayan
• Virgil Abloh
• Thierry Mugler
• Raf Simons
• Gianni Versace

• In the Philippines we have:

• Christian Espiritu: Studied architecture at UST
• Francis Libiran: Studied architecture at UST
• Joe Salazar: Studied architecture in Mapúa Institute of Technology
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Heavenly
Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination
• Yearly, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City in
collaboration with its Costume Institute and Vogue Magazine comes
out with a yearly themed exhibit
• Works of Fashion designers past and present, are curated following
the selected theme
• The Highlight of the event is the Annual Ball which has been hosted
for the past years by Anna Wintour, Editor in Chief of Vogue Magazine
• This red-carpet event showcases select celebrities donned in the
theme for the event

Familiar Catholic Imagery such as the Papal Gown, and the Virgin’s Cape,
and the detailed elements found within, defines Catholic Imagination.
Scarlett, the colour of the Papacy.

Secularizing religious Byzantine Mourning clothes associated with Catholic

mosaic into a vivid pattern. traditions as seen in the use of Black.
Ideas using familiar heavenly or celestial imagery.
Transposing religious clothing into high fashion.

Celebrities, (you know

them more than I do),
don Catholic
Representations. From
Papal Attire, to
Medieval Catholic
Design Elements.
From Martyrs and Saints, to Angel with Wings

From Chalice, to Votive Saints, to Monks

Catholic Imagination through Architecture
• Without utilizing familiar imagery
• Designs should not Look like a Church
• BUT may have the essence of what makes it Catholic
• Do NOT make the mistake of making the building look and feel
religious that people end up praying and making the sign of the cross
in front of a House, Bus Terminal, Store, or Cultural Facility
• Catholic Imagery can be seen in familiar silhouettes, deconstructed
elements, colour, artistic architectural elements e.g. stain glass
windows, statuary, mosaics, historical religious architectural details,
iconography, celestial beings, others

Familiar silhouettes
such as a gabled
roofline or a steeple
suggests religious
undertones, marked
by the use of
Catholic imagery
such as stained glass
or the purity of
white surfaces leads
one to think of its
Catholic and
heavenly inspiration.

Right: Chamber
Church, Qingdao,
China: Büro Ziyu
Zhuang
Left: Stained-glass
Greenhouse.
 Qichun Catholic Church, Qichun
Xian, Huanggang Shi, China:
Leekostudio.

Though undoubtedly searching for

Catholic Inspirations would lead
one to churches, the design of
modern Churches have evolved
from traditional familiar forms to
more modern languages. Here the
flying wimple of nuns seems to be
the inspiration for its architecture.

The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, Hilversum, the Netherlands:
Neutelings Riedijk Architecten

Innovative application of Stained glass on a modern architecture.

KunstKerk, Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Studio Job. Utilizing
again familiar Catholic imagery, the stained-glass window is
modernized giving this Art Museum an imaginative façade.

Majority of historic
architectural styles
were based on
Religious Catholic
Architecture. The
Gothic Style was a
predominantly
Catholic European
Style of the 13th to
15th centuries. Its
modern application,
the Neo-Gothic
adheres to modern
translations of the
movement.

Karsh Alumni and

Visitor Centre,
Durham, North
Carolina, USA:
Centerbrook
Architects and
Planners.