Sulaiman Bin Ahmed
UNITY TEMPLE
Unity temple is located in Chicago's Oak Park, near Wright's studio, it is a Unitarian Universalist church and the home of the Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation. The temple was built between 1905 and 1908 and designed by an American architect named Frank Lloyd Wright. Frank Lloyd Wright considered the Prairie-style concrete church to be his first contribution to modern architecture. Unity Temple was a replacement church for Unitarian Universalist Church that had burned down in 1905. The church is poised as an important work for the Modernist movement in the early 20th Century, but it was also the foundation from which the Prairie School would originate into Wright’s architectural language. Unity Temple was not just an ordinary commission for Wright since he was a parishioner of the Unitarian Church, to him the church was meant to be a temple for man to worship god, which coincided with Wright’s decision to abandon the typical New England Unitarian, white steeple, architectural style for a more modern concrete aesthetic. The church budget was relatively low for a project of this scale, approximately $40,000. Wright’s implementation of reinforced concrete was not only for its economic feasibility, but also for its flexibility in design while also creating a lasting presence on the site. When Unity Church burned to the ground in June 1905, Wright was awarded the commission, and in 1906 Unitarian Universalist minister Rodney Johonnott published a booklet titled, A New Edifice for Unity Church. He wanted a modern building that would embody the principles of “unity, truth, beauty, simplicity, freedom and reason.”
The concept for the building enabled a series of concrete forms to be repeated multiple times. In harmony with Wright’s philosophy of organic architecture, the concrete was left uncovered by plaster, brick, or stone. Unity Temple is a massive and monolithic cube of concrete, sheltered beneath an expansive flat roof. The introspective nature of the building is in part a response to its corner site situated along a busy thoroughfare. No entrance is apparent and the building appears impenetrable, save for a band of high clerestory windows recessed behind decorative piers and shadowed by overhanging eaves. Entry to the building is via a low hall that connects Unity Temple and Unity House. Above the bank of doors leading into the hall, an inscription in bronze declares, “For the worship of God and the service of man.” The low, dimly lit hall that unites the buildings is a transitional space. To the south it opens directly onto Unity House. Designed for “the service of man,” this secular space includes a central meeting hall, flanking balconies for use as open classrooms, and other special purpose rooms for daily operation. Like Wright’s residential architecture, this congregational parish house is centered on a fireplace hearth. Situated across the hall from Unity House is the temple. In contrast to the open entrance into Unity House, access to the sanctuary is complex. Wright masterfully manipulates the sequence of entrance; guiding the visitor through low dark passages he termed “cloisters,” before they ascend into the open, brightly lit sanctuary. The sanctuary is the heart and anchor of the building. At once grand yet intimate, the sanctuary is a masterful composition in light and space. Its elegant articulation and warm colors stand in bold contrast to the grey concrete exterior. Devoid of overt religious iconography, its precise geometric proportions declare a harmonious whole. The uppermost portion of the sanctuary appears light and transparent. A continuous band of clerestory windows of Wright’s signature leaded glass encircle the flat, coffered ceiling. Set in a concrete grid are twenty-five square skylights of amber tinted leaded glass.
REFERENCES
Eleanor Gibson, (2017). De zeen: Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple was the "first expression" of modern architecture.
Andrew Kroll, (2011). AD Classics: Unity Temple / Frank Lloyd Wright
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