Robson Group Architects, Inc.

Fifty-five people stepped away from the 1,300-participant Architecture Exchange East convention in Richmond yesterday morning to crane their necks upward at Congregation Beth Ahabah and at Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.

Many snapped photos at creative angles, whether on their cell phones or on traditional cameras with mid-range lenses. One man drew architectural details in a sketchbook.

Later in the morning and into the afternoon at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, they heard conflicting visions about the future of designing worship spaces.

These architects are members of the Virginia Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture. William Robson, a member of the group's leadership committee, described it as a knowledge community led by architects throughout the commonwealth.

Some of the discussion focused on modern megachurches, which contrast sharply with traditional synagogues and cathedrals.

"The megachurch is the major contribution to contemporary church architecture," said Louis Nelson, associate professor of architectural history at the University of Virginia, describing his opening thought as a depressing reality.

Citing such examples as Willow Creek Community Church in the suburbs of Chicago, Nelson said that megachurches are devoid of Christian imagery and could easily be mistaken for a shopping mall or an office park.

"The result, of course, is an architecture that speaks to the quotidian," or the everyday.

As megachurches have moved toward a plain-vanilla design, he said, Americans have found sacred spaces in nature, museums, sports arenas and their own homes.

Rex Miller, who has worked on designing interior spaces for 30 years but also writes as a futurist, said the architects must be mindful of people born after 1992. He described this generation variously as millennials and as a "digital native nation" because it has grown up with computer literacy.

While baby boomers are 50 percent of the work force in 2008, millennials will make up 43 percent of the work force in just 10 years, Miller said.

"We're now in a world where you have to be looking forward in church design," Miller said, rather than touring the newest churches and imitating what was designed five years earlier.

Miller, a baby boomer who is a Texas-based theologian, consultant and author, stressed repeatedly that religious leaders need to anticipate the needs of millennials if they wish to attract that generation into their worship spaces.

"Your neural pathways are actually different," he said, because baby boomers were shaped by a mixture of print and broadcast media while millennials were shaped by digital media.

Richmond architect James DePasquale, whose practice is devoted almost entirely to designing sacred spaces, led the group's Virginia members through the two worship spaces yesterday morning. While the tour was filled mostly with reverent detail about architectural influences and what sorts of stone were used in construction, humor broke out as well.

Russell Finer, executive director of Congregation Beth Ahabah, said that if he replaced one of the Louis Tiffany stained-glass windows with a reproduction, he could add $1 million to the congregation's coffers and 99.9 percent of the members would not notice the changed window.

"With that 0.1 percent that would know, I think you might get your résumé ready," DePasquale said.