Housing the Human and the Sacred: Fay Jones and Mid-Century Modern in the Ozarks

Thorncrown Chapel (1980) is a recognized masterpiece, but the deep connections between Thorncrown and the houses of Fay Jones have little public recognition. In most cases, the houses cannot be visited. However, the houses share Thorncrown’s spiritual quality: for Jones, housing the human and the housing the sacred are fundamentally linked. This project aims to bring the architecture of Fay Jones to a broad public audience through two platforms: 1) an immersive, game-like application published to the web and 2) a set of three kiosks which will rotate through public locations in the Ozarks region. Through four chapters, focusing on three houses and Thorncrown, the application will explore a central concern in Jones’ work: the interconnection of one’s body and self with social life and the natural world, and how the relationships between them can be mutually sustaining. This is not an architecture of display or consumption, but a serious, thoughtful, and ongoing challenge for how we humans dwell in the world.

Launch Application