The Abbey Church
The distinctive and stunning Abbey Church acts as a beacon and landmark, both the physical and spiritual center of our campus. At the center of the Church sits the 7-ton granite high altar, representing the spirit of a community that offers its prayers, thanksgiving, and sacrifices to God in union with his Son Jesus.
The Abbey Church was designed by Gyo Obata of Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum (HOK), and was consecrated in 1962. The Abbey Church was an important landmark and name-making project for HOK, now among the world's largest architectural practices. The church's circular facade consists of three tiers of whitewashed, thin-poured concrete parabolic arches, the top tier forming a bell-tower; the arches appear to float upwards from their grassy base. They are faced with dark, insulated fiberglass-polyester window-walls, which create a meditative translucency when viewed from within.
The church also contains a 14th-century sculpture of the Madonna and Christ child, a 17th-century holy water font in the Della Robbia style, and more modern sacred art by artists from the United States, Great Britain, Spain, and France.