June 2008 Archives
1. A r c h i t e c t u r a l c o n c e p t
Architecture should be about the perception and the experience of space, because only architecture is able to create space, manipulate space and transform space in the very objective of its experience through perception.
This ability of control over spatial arrangement to produce certain sensations and experiences is what interest me. The construction of spaces, the correlation or separation of spaces, the hierarchy of spaces, the spatial sequence through circulation in space, are many techniques to achieve architectural “events”. By “event” I mean this very moment when architecture produces sensations. Light, sound, smell and touch (and maybe taste) are sub-elements external or internal to the space, which must equally be considered and manipulated as tools towards enhancing a specific spatial aim.
Architecture and thus space only fully performs and gets fully functional when sensational experiences are created from it. So called architecture that only follow structural and predefined rules should not be seen as architecture but as mere constructions.
2. C h u r c h A r c h i t e c t u r e , p e r f o r m a n c e a n d I c o n i c i t y
“since earliest times, human beings have gathered together to show reverence to a supernatural or divine power. The places of worship where this worship takes place, as mircea Eliade says, breaks in the homogeneity of the profane world, where believers make contact with the divine. “Here in the scared enclosure, communication with the gods is made possible” (Eliade, 1987, p.26)
the primary goal of church architecture is to create the feeling of reaching closer towards God. Churches are emblematic of heaven on earth. Respect and reverence are the sensations one should feel in the house of God, in presence of God. The spiritual power is the essence of a church.
This aspect of architecture as sensational experiences is even more fundamental in the context of Iconic spaces like churches, in which a spatial impact is almost “expected” by the visitor. Architecture and church architecture can only be seen as “iconic” if they meet architectural expectations not only in their forms, but in the performance of their forms: in the ability through the form to create “architectural events”. In other words Architecture does not become Iconic just because of a recognizable shape or identity, but equally through its spatial performance. Iconic is about a concept that architecture materializes and concretizes in its form and performance. The concept in this project, should I remind it, being that “iconic” or “symbolic” architecture has the power to trigger sensations and emotions.
If the architectural aim of this project is for architecture to allow sensorial experience, how does this translate into the design of a church? What main sensorial experience needs to be created through spatial manipulation for the church to perform? How can we manipulate space to create the sensation of respect and reverence symbolic to the house of God?
3. C h u r c h H i s t o r i c a l c o n t e x t
In Medieval time, the architectural aim to experience God’s presence was formally translated through the cruciform plan holding two main spatial characteristic:
. The sequential hierarchy of space
Places of worship are arranged into spaces within spaces of increasing degrees of holiness. These spaces are usually not physically separated but conceptually by a small step, a screen, an arch, or change of spatial furniture’s arrangement.
. The “Grander” of the Space
The Majestic scale of the space inside the Church was used to represent God’s powerful presence, so that one would think when entering it: “this is the house of God!”
With time the church had been gradually losing its central position in an increasingly materialist and rationalist society. Contemporary capitalism destroyed the image of a tight social community, and equally of religious communities, by instead highlighting the ideology of an individualistic society. Consequently, the power and position of the church in society has been considerably reduced. Coherent religious communities gave place to a modern society composed of isolated individuals.
The reformation saw a transformation of Church principles. This liturgical movement started with Pope Pius X who urged the adoption of a new church plan and spatial arrangement. The function of the church building was no longer to be a representation of some paradise (the spirit in which Gothic churches were conceived) but instead, the architecture had to re-promote a community. New churches had not only to be smaller, more intimate but of one-room design aiming to bring the clergy back to the congregation who would become real participants in the liturgy. The cruciform plan for so long associated with churches was now substituted with the circular plan.
But, even with the effort to modernise religion and its architectural representations, churches are still today faced with its decreasing popularity. How could the architecture of church space help to regain its ability to engage with a contemporary society?
4. C h u r c h C o n t e m p o r a r y c o n t e x t
“Most churches -throughout history- are entered and left too abruptly with little preparation space, either from the worldly to the spiritual, or vice versa.”
“The New Churches of Europe” (1964), G. E. Kidder Smith Faia, Architectural press London (p.13)
Within the context of globalization, high tourism and dense urbanism, people have lost respect for the sacred character of the church. God’s house gets violated by the easy intrusion of people entering the space. The Church should be a space disconnected from the material world to allow a more profound contact with the spiritual world and restore its level of reverence.
In early years, the addition of Atriums to churches was aiming in this aspiration to create a smoother transition and preparation from the broken world to the wholly. Labyrinths were also used in many Cathedrals to act as a symbolic pilgrimage in order to clean your soul, before entering the heavenly. I propose a new understanding of the Atrium in association with the meaningful journey of labyrinths to create an interstitial spatial condition surrounding the main sacred space. The reconfiguration of the church plan into a network of paths and spaces surrounding the main sacred space and acting as a buffer space between the city and the sanctuary, or space of gradual transition, will act as a preparation to leave the material world into the spiritual world. It is a symbolic purification before entering the heavenly, by allowing a “spiritual journey” of solitary and slow procession to take place through layers of spaces of increasing holiness. This ritual of approach and purification define the worship space. Movement is there slower to give more time to reflect and the paths are narrower to allow an individual journey, before entering the main space of communal meditation.
P r o j e c t
The project investigates both the small scale of the individual components and the large scale of the overall church composition along with the concept of network of interconnecting paths and interlocking spaces, both standing separately from the rest but always part of a whole.
These permit the manipulation of layers of spaces (horizontally and vertically) created by the geometrical assembly of theses individual components. These layer of spaces 0f increasing holiness are seen as thresholds between the profane world of the city and the sacred world of the main church space, and allows processional routes to take place within its interstitial fabric as a preparation, purification and illumination stage before entering the sanctuary and unifying with God at the Altar in the centre of the space. Because of the proximity of the church to the city or the city to the church, the boundaries between city and church get blurred as the city penetrates the church and the interstitial network of the church invades the urban fabric.
