OUR LADY OF FATIMA SHRINE AND PRAYER GARDEN
How do you bring the Gospel of Jesus to life, through Our Lady of Fatima, in the fields of Charles Town, West Virginia? This was the challenge presented to DESIGN CONCEPTS and memorialized in the Our Lady of Fatima Shrine and Prayer Garden, created as a memorial celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Apparitions of Mary to 3 Children in Fatima, Portugal. It was designed for all ages as a place of both silent worship and communal prayer. The design includes statues of Our Lady and the children set within a quatrefoiled cruciform space displaying the Mysteries of the Rosary through a “crown” of arches. Each arch houses a Mystery of the Rosary with a QR code that one can access via phone to allow for additional information, scripture verse, and spiritual message. The statues on either side of Our Lady are of The Angel of Peace and St. Pope John Paul II. The materials of the Shrine were carefully chosen to blend in with the church. They represent a blend of the local area with a universal faith. The arches were “cookie cut” from the same arches that surround the church, and the Shrine was designed as an extension of the church piazza. The cast stone inlay of the Rosary cross mirrors the cross that sits atop the church. The brick patterns are a combination of Spanish Bond, Basketweave, and Running Bond. In addition to Italian Marble and Portuguese Tile, there are spacers from Germany between the pavers that allow water to drain naturally and a snow melt system from Poland that melts the snow rapidly.