SANCTUARY

SANCTUARY is proud to be featured in the documentary film of the same name, being released in October 2025. Created by Autumn McAlpin of Side Gig Productions, and Co-Director Vienna Boyes, the film features “the plight of LGBTQIA+ individuals within modern faith systems—told through the eyes of a visionary architect whose passion project becomes a lifeline.” See more info and the official trailer at this link:

What constitutes sacred space and how is it created? By whom and for whom?

SANCTUARY is an architectural exploration of the fundamental nature of sacred space. Enclosed in common materials, erected for a temporary moment, and standing in an ordinary location, the Sanctuary is a space in which people can converge to share their sorrows, joys, and hopes, to witness without judgment, and to yearn for a greater understanding of our existence and true nature.

SANCTUARY has been created four times. It asserts the equality of the LGBTQ+ community in its form and process of creation, and beyond that the equality of all human beings in the face of the sacred. Creating sacred interaction on a public sidewalk using cardboard and repurposed waste material, the structure seeks to invoke a sense of wonder, to generate meaningful interaction through sharing and witnessing of personal experience, and to create a memorable form and experience suggesting what is possible though it lasts only a brief moment. The project speaks through exploring the paradoxes of the sacred and profane, high tech and low tech, designed and spontaneous, simple and monumental, new and repurposed.

Explore the history of the project on the following pages.