April 29, 2026

St. James portico wins Faith & Form Award

Photo by Kevin Scott [enlarge]

Adapting the side entrance to become the primary provided ADA compliance and enhanced integration of the church’s values and messaging.

The Saint James Cathedral Portico in Seattle was selected for an honor award in renovation at the 2026 Faith & Form International Awards for Religious Architecture and Art. The Gerrick Office portico design was one of 75 entries from nine countries in the award program founded in 1978 to honor excellence and innovation in architecture, design and art for religious places.

With attendance on the decline in the U.S. and especially in Seattle, churches find it more important to be welcoming and accessible. This award-winning portico took a secondary access and turned it into the primary, enhancing physical accessibility and reintroducing Catholic theological values.

The new brass doors were designed with a scallop shell design, an icon associated with the cathedral's namesake, Saint James. And the holy water stoup inside allows multiple visitors to bless themselves simultaneously in a collective spiritual gesture.

Just inside the brass doors is a thirty-foot-high light monitor. During the day natural light comes in from windows above. At night, cove lighting illuminates those same windows, aimed at creating a beacon effect for the community.

Jury comments included, “The new northeast portico for Saint James Cathedral is an example of a small intervention that makes a profound impact on an existing religious structure. The design uses lighting in diverse and subtle ways, as well as the fine detailing of new entry doors and a holy water stoup, to transform what was once merely a building access point into a warm and inviting statement of liturgical welcome to the entire First Hill neighborhood in Seattle.”

Project partners included: Saint James Cathedral, Gerrick Office, Swenson Say Faget, Studio Lumen, RDH Building Science, Studio Pacifica, Ferguson Construction, Decorative Metal Arts, Dynamic Fenestration, Lambert Stoneworks and Robbie Schneider.

The Saint James Cathedral portico also won an award of honor at the 2025 Seattle AIA awards.