The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in McAllen draws from the region’s Spanish Colonial architectural heritage, translating historic forms into a contemporary sacred setting. The design incorporates corbels, corbeled and semicircular arches, barrel vaults, campanulate parapets, shell niches, quatrefoil motifs, scrolls, and ribbons. Subtractive openings carved from solid-appearing walls recall traditional adobe and masonry structures, creating a sense of permanence, depth, and quiet reverence.

Wells joined the project team through a design-assist collaboration, working closely with the architect and general contractor to ensure the architectural vision could be fully realized while maintaining production feasibility and installation efficiency. Architectural precast concrete was selected to emulate the character of hand-carved limestone while providing the precision required to execute intricate three-dimensional detailing. Deeply shelled niches, floral quatrefoil motifs, and layered profiles were fabricated with consistency and care—elements that would have been difficult to achieve in natural stone within project constraints.