Duncan Gregory Stroik (born January 14, 1962), usually credited as Duncan G. Stroik, is an American architect, a professor of architecture at the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture, and founding editor of the Sacred Architecture Journal. His work continues the tradition of classical and Palladian architecture, also known as New Classical Architecture.
Stroik specializes in all aspects of Roman Catholic sacred architecture. In his academic work, Stroik has stressed the importance of tradition, and advocated beauty as the principal standard of architecture. In 2016 Stroik was honored with the Arthur Ross Award for recognition of excellence in the classical tradition.
Early life and career
Stroik received a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia School of Architecture in 1984 and a master's degree in architecture from Yale School of Architecture in 1987. After graduating from Yale, Stroik worked as a designer in the office of Allan Greenberg. In 1990, Stroik joined the Notre Dame School of Architecture as a founding faculty member of the school's classical program. In that same year, he founded his firm, Duncan G. Stroik Architect LLC.
Stroik attributes his awakening as a classical architect to Thomas Gordon Smith, who was one of the first postmodern architects to embrace canonical classicism.
Institute for Sacred Architecture and The Sacred Architecture Journal
In 1998, Stroik founded the Institute for Sacred Architecture, a non-profit organization dedicated to a renewal of beauty in contemporary church design. The institute’s principal activity is the twice yearly publication of the Sacred Architecture Journal, which Stroik edits, and which is dedicated to an ongoing discussion of current issues in the field of sacred architecture.
Major projects
Stroik's major projects include:
Chapel of the Holy Cross on the Jesuit High School campus in Tampa, Florida
All Saints Church in Walton, Kentucky
St. Augustine Cathedral in Kalamazoo, Michigan
Christ Chapel at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan
Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity on the Thomas Aquinas College campus
The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin
St. Margaret Mary Parish in Bullhead City, Arizona
St. Theresa School and Education Center in Sugar Land, Texas
St. Catherine of Siena Church in Trumbull, Connecticut
St. Joseph Cathedral in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Organ case in St. Paul's Cathedral in Saint Paul, Minnesota
Villa Indiana in South Bend, Indiana
St. Augustine Cathedral
A renovation of Saint Augustine Church designed by Ralph Adams Cram in 1951 is meant to architecturally make the interior worthy of its current "cathedral" designation.
Classical elements of the design include touches of Gothic to respond to the original style of the cathedral. Updates include a new marble sanctuary floor, predella, baldacchino, ambo, cathedra, new and restored altars, and an interior decorative paint scheme.
Cathedral of Saint Joseph
The "creative restoration" of this early twentieth century cathedral designed by Emmanuel Louis Masqueray restored the interior to its former glory.
The barrel vault, arches, and circular motifs are brought to a crescendo in the circular baldachin that highlights the altar. This circular theme is repeated in the plan of the ambo or pulpit and in the arches at the bishop's cathedra and the high altar. A new decorative marble floor was installed throughout the entire church replacing the monochromatic stone tile. Also, the mechanical, electrical, sound reinforcement, and lighting systems were replaced including new custom chandeliers replicated from photographs of the originals.
Thomas Aquinas College chapel
Set in the heart of the Thomas Aquinas College campus, Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel was dedicated on March 7, 2009. Stroik's design for this , $23 million chapel references Early Christian, Spanish Mission and Renaissance architecture. Stroik designed the chapel as cruciform in shape and featuring both a bell tower and an dome. In 2003 Pope John Paul II blessed the chapel's plans, and in 2008, Pope Benedict XVI blessed its cornerstone.