Introduction
Young's research focuses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century architecture, with special interests in sacred space. Her 2014 book on Marcel Breuer's design of Saint John's Abbey Church in Collegeville, Minnesota (1953-1961) explored the impact of midcentury modernism and liturgical reform on sacred architecture. A 2023 essay in Water and Sacred Architecture considered the role of baptism in Breuer's sacred work. Young wrote her Master's thesis at the University of Virginia on Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire, England, a monastic design by the nineteenth-century English architect, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. This project focused on the international aspects of Pugin's design, both architecturally and ideologically, and was published in the first issue of Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide. Dr. Young is currently researching the work of the nineteenth-century Gothic Revival architect J.T. Micklethwaite and his designs for the side chapel at Keble College, Oxford.
Young also explores the work of Voorsanger Architects in her research and creation of the Voorsanger Architects Archive at the University of St. Thomas. She published an essay on their role in the design of the National World War II Museum in 2022.
The gift of the Winton Guest House to the University of St. Thomas in 2007 led Young to analyze its place in the work of the architect, Frank Gehry, through a permanent exhibit in the house that ran from October 2011-May 2015.