Roman Catholic Church at Chico, California by Patrick Quinn

Manplan 5 was originally published in March 1970, and was republished online in May 2016. Read the full piece on church design here

The Roman Catholic Church at Chico, California (architect Patrick Quinn), now nearing completion, carries the idea of the church as the home of the community several stages further: the resulting building will genuinely look like a home. The underlying idea is not merely to shift the centre of interest from the building to the people, but from the liturgy to the people. The liturgy is no longer thought of as the dominant activity of the community: though necessarily important, it is only one of the many things they do. Dual use again plays a decisive part. As can be seen from the section, the main space has been divided so that the parts form a complete whole both together and separately.