Nave designs churches, baptisteries, and sacred interiors — vaulted ceilings that pull the eye upward, narthex thresholds that slow the breath before entry.
47 sacred buildings completed
Rose Window
Tracery in
limestone & leaded glass
Narthex
Threshold designed
to slow the breath
01
AcousticsThe moment when spoken word becomes sung prayer is also the moment when acoustic design becomes theology. Reverberation time in a nave isn't measured in seconds — it's measured in how long the assembly's "Amen" hangs in the air before silence.
RT60 · Nave height · Absorption
02
MaterialsCast stone costs 40% less at installation. Limestone costs 40% less over 60 years. The building committee that understands this difference has already made the more important decision: they're building for the congregation's grandchildren.
Durability · Patina · Cost lifecycle
03
Adaptive ReuseWhen a congregation purchases an industrial building, the temptation is to conceal its origins behind drywall and dropped ceilings. The better instinct is to ask what the building already knows about light, volume, and gathering.
Structural expression · Light studies
Interactive Site Plan
Click a zone to exploreZone A
The nave proper — seating capacity, sightlines to the altar, acoustic ceiling height, and processional aisle widths all determined here. Typically 15–18 sq ft per seat.
Plan typologies, seating diagrams, and liturgical furniture details — searchable, ungated, immediately useful.
8 of 8 patterns
Download full archiveEvery commission starts with listening — to the congregation, the site, the liturgical calendar, and the building budget. The numbers below reflect that discipline.
Sacred buildings completed
1998–2026
Active diocese commissions
Restoration & new
Sq ft of worship space designed
Across 14 states
Years in liturgical practice
Est. 1998, Philadelphia
“Nave understood from the first meeting that we weren't building a building — we were building a home for the Eucharist. Every dimension they proposed was in service of that.”
Fr. Thomas Maguire
Pastor, St. Brendan's Parish
Lancaster, PA
Completed 2024
St. Columba's, Bucks County
Limestone ashlar walls ·
Acoustic vault 38'-0" AFF ·
340 fixed seats
48 pages covering site selection criteria, liturgical space ratios, acoustic targets by denomination, material durability comparisons, and a phased construction checklist for congregations at every budget level.
Inside the guide
