Saint John Paul II National Shrine
Saint John Paul II National Shrine
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Washington, DC
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Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, Inc.
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120,000 SF
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Programming
Master planning
Site planning
Architecture
Exhibit programming and design
Engineering
Interiors
Originally design and built as the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, this four-level 120,000-SF scholarly study center and interactive museum, set among tall trees and peaceful gardens in an urban park, was dedicated to religion and contemporary cultural issues. After John Paul II’s canonization, the center was renamed and repurposed and has since been a place of worship, religious formation, and cultural renewal to feed the minds and souls of its visitors.
The reinforced concrete building is clad in limestone, copper, and glass, featuring traditional natural materials in intellectually challenging forms to express functional and symbolic relationships. This is evident in the articulation of the private and quiet top floor space which was originally reserved for scholarship and housed the Foundation’s Intercultural Forum – an endowed think-tank for up to 12 scholars. The other three floors housed a 30,000-SF high-tech interactive museum at ground level; a permanent Marian exhibit at the entry level; and a changing-exhibits gallery on the second level. Intended to be public, lively, and welcoming, the center has vistas to neighboring institutions, which include The Catholic University of America, the US Soldiers and Airmen’s Home, and Children’s National Medical Center.
