THE MARIAN GARDENS project at Christ Cathedral was recently recognized by Partners for Sacred Places with a 2026 Faith & Form International Award for Religious Architecture & Art, a program founded in 1978 to honor excellence and
innovation in architecture, design and art for religious places.
The Marian Gardens, which opened in 2024 as a walk-through experience exploring the Mysteries of the Rosary, won the Sacred Landscape award. The distinction will be presented at the AIA Conference on Architecture & Design 2026 to be held in San Diego this June.
The jury provided the following comments:
“This landscape presents a rich set of ideas rendered with aesthetic sensitivity and detail. The programming of the landscape is generous, providing several different kinds of contemplative spaces that one might use to connect with the life of Mary or with oneself. It was easy to imagine one using this landscape and how the materials, colors, form and scale of the design complements Johnson/Burgee’s famous glass church for Robert Schuller.”
Partners for Sacred Places, founded in 1989, is a Philadelphia-based, non-sectarian nonprofit focused on preserving historic sacred places. Of the 75 entries
submitted from nine countries, 12 total awards were given in a variety of categories, including restoration and re-use of religious buildings.
Domusstudio Architecture, a San Diego- based architectural firm, designed the project. The concrete subcontractor was J&M Concrete Contractors, Inc., with supplies from Associated Ready Mix. Driver SPG was the general contractor. Outdoor lighting was by Oculus Light Studio. The Marian Gardens was the second phase of the Our Lady of La Vang Shrine project, which also consists of the La Vang shrine and statue, a wall dedicated to the 117 Vietnamese martyrs and a re-creation of the Garden of Gethsemane. The entire shrine project was managed and fundraised by the OLLV Foundation.
The Marian Gardens were designed by a priest committee, with input from Aaron Torrence of Culver City-based Torrence Architects. Further design work and completion was by architect David Pfeifer, AIA, LEED, AP of Domusstudio Architecture.
“We are grateful for the support of the OLLV Foundation, the Diocese of Orange for their accepting of the project vision and ideas, and our engineering team and Driver SPG as well for having the fortitude and skill to see to its proper implementation,” said Pfeifer. “The greatest measure of our work is through the prayer and worship of the faithful. However, recognition by professional and peer organizations is also appreciated. We are humbled and honored at the acceptance and daily utilization of the spaces by the Catholic community as well as the recognition and awards that the project has received.
“This project has the special and unique attributes of being less about function and more about experience and spiritual connections. It challenged our creativity to purify and distill the design to purely perceptual elements of form light, material and flow.”
The recognition is the third for the Marian Gardens. It was first lauded in 2024 by the American Concrete Institute’s Southern California chapter for use of decorative concrete. In 2025, the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) gave an Award of Merit for the gardens’ innovative use of outdoor lighting.