SEATTLE — When the doors swing open at Christ Our Hope Church, parishioners and visitors are met by a baptismal font that is a work of art full of liturgical meaning, with “living” water gently spilling over its sides.

“It calls people to touch it, to run their hands over it on the way to Communion,” said Chuck Middendorf, chair of the downtown Seattle parish’s liturgy commission.

Built for full immersion in a worship space that seats just 277 people, the font has won a 2022 Faith & Form Award for religious arts. The international awards are sponsored by Partners for Sacred Places, Faith & Form and Interfaith Design.

“This font is simply detailed, elegant with its infinity edge,” wrote the jury of architects, artists and clergy who selected it for the award. “There’s a strong connection in this font between the imagery of a tomb and the sacrament of baptism that is biblical in its references.”

Stained-glass windows reflected in the Christ Our Hope baptismal font create a dramatic place for prayer. (Courtesy Stephen Lee)

In an interview, the font designer, Stephen Lee of Stephen Lee Architects in Seattle, described it as “very simple, elegant and gorgeous. It looks so lovely when you open the doors and it reflects the windows.”

Lee is well known in the Pacific Northwest for his designs. He has been honored for his renovation work at St. James Cathedral and Seattle’s St. Anne Church, which includes a baptismal font that inspired planners at Christ Our Hope.

Lee also was honored with a 2012 “best rehabilitation project” preservation award for Christ Our Hope, which occupies a small space that originally served as the dining room of a luxury hotel built in 1908. (Today the building also offers low-income housing.)

Reconstructed from the previous baptismal font, the new font rests at the entrance of the worship space, with enough room to accommodate a casket at the beginning of a funeral Mass, Lee said in his award nomination. Movable seating in the church provides more space for the assembly to gather around during baptisms, he added.

The reconstructed font consists of an infinity pool with a structure elevated 24 inches above the floor to ensure safety. The font’s white stone ties in with the altar and ambo, while its sarcophagus shape and contrasting black stone interior signify triumph over death, Lee wrote in the nomination.

Words from Isaiah 43:2 inscribed around the top of the Christ Our Hope baptismal font provide a prayer of comfort for parishioners and visitors. (Courtesy Stephen Lee)

“The steps inside represent entering into the death of Christ, being buried with Christ and rising to walk in the resurrected life of Christ,” Lee wrote, referring to Romans 6:4.

“Baptized into death, so that we can rise like Christ from death and into a new life together,” Middendorf said.

Christ Our Hope, located at the corner of Stewart Street and Second Avenue, serves as a haven for people in the heart of downtown Seattle, he said.

“We knew people would wander by frequently or come in and they don’t know the words to pray,” Middendorf said.

So inscribed around the top of the font are a version of Isaiah 43:2 — “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.”

“We wanted it to be a verse of comfort for the people throughout the day who come in looking for a little bit of peace, tranquility and comfort,” Middendorf said.