[8] He served during the Second World War as a night fighter pilot in the Pacific theater, and was awarded a Purple Heart and a Distinguished Flying Cross.
[2] After the war, Sövik was inspired by an officer to study architecture and enrolled at Yale University where the program emphasized pragmatism, abstraction, and new materials and technology.
He cites six scholars[3] as influences on his work leading up to the 1973 publication of Architecture for Worship: liturgist Gregory Dix, liturgical architecture scholar J. G. Davies, liturgical historian Josef Jungmann, Langer, theologian and church historian Hans Lietzmann, and Lohmeyer.
In this text, Sövik argued for church spaces that are not set apart for holy rituals, but are adaptable and suitable as "non-church" buildings.
[3] The design of Northfield Methodist Church in 1964 became a template for his "non-church" approach where it is flexible for both liturgical and non-liturgical activities so the building could be a resource for service.