Screen: A Masters of Architecture Thesis

by Timothy Owen

While there are many concerns in the design of a building, two primary ideas drove the design of this church, sited at a Christian camping and retreat center in southwest Pennsylvania. The control of light entering the building is realized through a double layer of screens that form the exterior walls of the building and the walls of the sanctuary inside. These screens are the result of rigorous experimentation to maximize daylight and reduce glare in the space. The second main idea is how the overhead plane is treated. Unified as a screen, curvilinear sheets of fabric are lit by openings in the roof to create sinuous bands of light that define the overhead plane and draw the eye upward. When the person enters the sanctuary do they realize how the exterior and interior screens control the sunlight to illuminate a worship space that is flexible enough to both meet the needs of the camp and allow for future evolution of the liturgy.

79 pages, Hardcover

Published June 23, 2011

About the author

Timothy Owen was born in a small suburb in Johannesburg, South Africa right in the middle of the apartheid era, a scary time of unrest and riots. Since the abolition of apartheid in 1991, South Africa has produced a constitution that is an example to the rest of the world, where all people, regardless of race, creed, gender or sexuality are truly equal in the eyes of the law. In 2006, South Africa became the first country in Africa to recognise same-sex marriage, only the fifth in the world.

An avid reader, poet and traveller, Tim is a columnist for various gay publications. He and his long-term partner are the proud fathers of Tim’s three biological children. He has diplomas in IT, Creative Writing and Human Resources.

Inspired by cultures around the world and by Dean Koontz, whose novels are a constant reminder that good can triumph over bad, Tim has always been creative when it comes to fictitious writing.

The first time he submitted his work for publication, it was with a very specific goal in mind, which had nothing to do with writing. He wrote in anonymously to Fairlady Magazine, detailing his predicament of being a married, closet homosexual. His wife at the time and the mother of his children used to read Fairlady religiously, and upon seeing the article commented to him that the gentleman in the piece should ‘grow some balls and tell his wife!’ Two weeks later he did exactly that.

Now, Tim looks back at that incident and realises it was the most difficult decision he had to make, to be honest about who he was, but also the most rewarding one as it changed the course of his life, or rather, set it on course.

‘You owe it to yourself and the people you love to embrace who you are and live your life accordingly’, he says. ‘Love resides in the heart, not the genitals, and the essence of love is unbiased with no regard for the trivial attributes of the people involved. The ability to love is what makes us human, but unfortunately, so is the tendency to judge.’

Tim has just released his second book, The Killing Cycle which is available in both paperback and eBook on most of the Amazon sites, and in selected book stores in the States.

You can find Tim Owen on http://iamawriterdammit.blogspot.com where he muses over the misadventures of a wanna-be-stay-at-home-writer or follow him on Twitter; http://twitter.com/#!/TimOwen1968 and on Facebook; http://www.facebook.com/timowen1968