Client: Diocese of Venice, FL

Overview

The Architectural and Liturgical plan for St. Agnes Catholic Church, Naples, FL was developed to engage a theme of Living Waters, a line of Baptismal waters linking the Chapel font through the site plan with the main Church Baptismal font in the Narthex. This line is the demarcation between the Profane and the Sacred which one must cross to enter the Sanctuary and be “cleansed.”

Goals

The Baptismal font was to represent an historical thematic locus for the Center of the Church site. As a Resurrection theme the font is illuminated on Easter Sunday noon via a calculated angle of sunlight through skylight above. The entire site plan carries forward the Living Waters theme through exterior trough fonts linking distant site entries to Chapel Baptistry and Main Sanctuary as well as aligning the Holy Water fonts in the Narthex with this Baptismal Line and primary Church Font. The location, "ancient" marble foundation and circular basin of the Baptismal font were critical in grounding the centralizing theme.

Process

Andrea Clark Brown Architects conceived the details, character and dimensions of the Baptismal Font and Site waters. This concept and details were carried out by artist Frank Varga, who also produced the Holy Water Fonts along this same Living Waters line (not shown). The exterior water basin spill and stone were carried out by Architectural Accents and Compass Construction.

Additional Information

The project received Centennial attention by AIA Florida as one of the Best 100 Architectural Projects in 100 years of the Florida AIA.