Making Sacred: The Phenomenology of Matter and Spirit in Architecture and The City (original) (raw)

ARCHITECTURE, CULTURE, AND SPIRITUALITY

2015

This book is a scholarly collection of essays on contemporary perspectives regarding the nature and significance of the sacred in the built environment. Recognized experts in the fields of architecture, urbanism, landscape architecture, and religious studies bring unique perspectives to a range of topics and examples. The book’s primary argument is that even though the post-modern condition has transgressed, degraded or superseded shared belief systems and symbolic languages, the experience, significance and meaning of the built environment retains a certain kind of veracity, potency and latent receptivity. Even though the authors approach the subject from a range of disciplines and theoretical positions, all share interests in the need to rediscover, redefine or reclaim the sacred in everyday experience, scholarly analysis, and design.

Modern Architecture and The Sacred (co-edited with Ross Anderson)

Bloomsbury Academic, 2020

This edited volume, Modern Architecture and the Sacred, presents a timely reappraisal of the manifold engagements that modern architecture has had with ‘the sacred’. It comprises fourteen individual chapters arranged in three thematic sections – Beginnings and Transformations of the Modern Sacred; Buildings for Modern Worship; and Semi-Sacred Settings in the Cultural Topography of Modernity. The first interprets the intellectual and artistic roots of modern ideas of the sacred in the post-Enlightenment period and tracks the transformation of these in architecture over time. The second studies the ways in which organized religion responded to the challenges of the new modern self-understanding, and then the third investigates the ways that abstract modern notions of the sacred have been embodied in the ersatz sacred contexts of theatres, galleries, memorials and museums. While centring on Western architecture during the decisive period of the first half of the 20th century – a time that takes in the early musings on spirituality by some of the avant-garde in defiance of Sachlichkeit and the machine aesthetic – the volume also considers the many-varied appropriations of sacrality that architects have made up to the present day, and also in social and cultural contexts beyond the West.

Religion and Art: Rethinking Aesthetic and Auratic Experiences in ʻPost-Secularʼ Times

Religions, 2019

Since the beginning of modernity, the relationship between art and religion has been a multifaceted one, characterized both by tensions and by productive exchanges. One can claim that the modern concept of “art” (and the corresponding modern institution of art) has been one of the “secular–religious” expressions of modernity. The language we have been employing to characterize thedomainof“finearts”and“esthetic”experienceshasbeenremarkably“religious”. We“meditate” in front of artworks; art allows us to experience a “spiritual” excitement; we make pilgrimages to see and venerate masterpieces in their (secular) sacred spaces (e.g., museums) that require a special decorum, inspiring the atmosphere of devotion. In this way (and following the lead provided by WalterBenjamin)wearewitnessinganexchangebetweenthe“aura”ofdevotional(religious-esthetic) objects, and the “aura” of (secular–religious) artworks. This exchange of “auratic” experiences can also be seen in the exchange of roles between traditional sacred spaces (churches) and modern (secular–sacred) museums: modernity has turned museums into places of silent worship of sacred objects (artworks), while churches have become exhibition spaces where most of the visitors go to see artworks and not to celebrate the Eucharist. The most recent developments testify to yet another reversal. Increasinglybusymuseumspaces—withtheirever-expandinguseoftechnologyandunder constantpressuretoembrace“participatoryculture”—arebecominglessandlessoftheold-fashioned quietspaceswithafocusonestheticcontemplationinfrontofapieceofart. Churches,onthecontrary, are providing such a context for carrying out practices associated with the traditional role of the museum, outside the time of church services. All of this presents us with the need to reconsider the question of the relationship between art, religion, and the sacred. How can we think of the “aura” of (sacred) contexts and (sacred) works? How to think of individual and collective (esthetic–religious) experiences? What to make of the manipulative dimension of (religious and esthetic) “auratic” experiences? Is the work of art still capable of mediating the experience of the “sacred” and under what conditions? What is the significance of the “eschatological” dimension of both art and religion (the sense of “ending”)? Can theology offer a way to reaffirm the creative capacities of the human being as something that characterizes the very condition of being human? This Special Issue aspires to contribute to the growing literature on contemporary art and religion, and to explore the new ways of thinking of art and the sacred (in their esthetic, ideological, and institutional dimensions) in the context of contemporary culture.

TRANSCENDING ARCHITECTURE. Contemporary Views of Sacred Space

TRANSCENDING ARCHITECTURE. Contemporary Views of Sacred Space, 2015

Transcending Architecture considers the mysterious, profound, and real power of designed environments to address the spiritual dimension of our humanity. By bringing in perspectives from within and without architecture, the book offers a wide, critical and nuanced understanding of the lived relationship between the built and the numinous worlds. Far from avoiding the charged issues of subjectivity, culture and intangibility, the book examines phenomenological, symbolic and designerly ways in which the holy gets fixed and experienced through buildings, landscapes, and urban forms, and not just in institutionally defined “religious” or “sacred” places. Acknowledging that no individual voice can exhaust the topic, Transcending Architecture brings together a stellar group of scholars and practitioners to share their insights: architect Juhani Pallasmaa and philosopher Karsten Harries, comparative religion scholar Lindsay Jones and architectural theoretician Karla Britton, sacred architecture researcher Thomas Barrie and theologian Kevin Seasoltz, landscape architect Rebecca Krinke and Faith & Form magazine editor Michael Crosbie, are among the illustrious contributors. The result is the most direct, clear, and subtle scholarly text solely focused on the transcendental dimension of architecture available. This book thus provides, on one hand, understanding, relief, and growth to an architectural discipline that usually avoids its ineffable dimension and, on the other hand, a necessary dose of detail and reality to fields such as theological aesthetics, material anthropology, or philosophical phenomenology that too often fall trapped into unproductive generalizations and over-intellectualizations.

SPIRITUALITY AND ARCHITECTURE

The Routledge International Handbook of Spirituality in Society and the Professions, 2019

Addressing the voluminous and multifarious expressions of architecture and spirituality is a daunting task. Consequently, three focused perspectives inform our discussion. The first con­ siders the "objecthood" of architecture-the functional, typological, and material ways that buildings express and facilitate spiritualiry. Second, the phenomenological dimension of spiritual settings is addressed, including bodily experiences and feelings produced by. interactions with buildings. Third, are considerations of the cultural and social aspects of architecture, visa -vis spiritualiry, and its ethical, communicative, and symbolic fi.111ctions. These three positions align with the fundamental ways human reality unfolds: first person, individual, internal, or subjective reality (I, me); second person, collective, dialogical, or intersubjective reality (you, we, us); and third-person, empirical, external, or objective reality (it). A number of impulses define contemporary spirituaLiry, including aesthetic, ethical, and ontological emphases.The first conceives of spirituality and spiritual experiences as growing out of the beauty and presence of creation. The second offers sustainable and restorative perspec­tives and aims to address the grand problems of the age - global climate change, economic and political disparities, warfare and displacement, and other contemporary imperatives that demand holistic solutions. The third seeks psychic reorientations where the world and one's place in it arc revealed, and reverence is paired with inquiry to seek inner development and outer realiza­tion regarding the nature of being, purpose, and place in tbe cosmos.

Beauty and Transcendence in Architecture: Four Ideals for the Secular Age

Proceedings of the 2022 California Baptist University Architecture Symposium, 2022

We live in a day and age in which the built environment plays a critical role in either nourishing or diminishing cognitive, behavioral, spiritual, and emotional health and well-being. “More than ever before,” argues Juhani Pallasmaa, “the ethical and humane task of architecture and all art is to defend the authenticity and autonomy of human experience, and to reveal the existence of the transcendental realm, the domain of the sacred.” Finding beauty and the sacred in a secular age is difficult considering the atheistic philosophy that dominates both modern culture and our schools of architecture. “Our built environment speaks of a culture that has banished the sacred to the periphery of our modern lives,” explains Karsten Harries. While this may be the case, Charles Taylor argues that the secular age forces individuals to confront notions of belief and unbelief. Thus, it is our unique privilege living in a culturally diverse and predominantly democratic world that enables us to choose for ourselves based on evidence, history, and faith rather than popular ideologies. Beauty and transcendence are inextricably linked to the sacred. Looking to the past, Alberto Perez-Gomez reminds us that Renaissance cosmology believed that “number and geometry were a…link between the human and the divine.” Others influenced by Newtonian transcendental thought argued that by observing the “immutable, mathematical laws…of natural phenomena” architects would be able to design with beauty and thereby approach divinity. The latest neuroscience research is likewise confirming our tendency to seek the beautiful or spiritual in order to fulfill the human need of nourishing our emotional brain. Applying these lessons to the secular age we ask: how can architects attempt to transcend the mundane and ordinary through beauty? Can the domain of the sacred be revealed through beauty? How might these principles be taught to the next generation of architects? I seek to answer these difficult questions by examining four ideals that might help us address beauty and transcendence in architecture. These can be summarized as follows: 1) design with beauty, 2) defend the authentic, 3) build for time, and 4) inspire the spirit. I conclude by sharing lessons learned from applying these ideals to architectural education in the secular age.

Sacred, profane and geometrical symbolism in architecture

This paper start from two assumption: 1. the illuminist thought has represented a turning point in Western history, but its has “frozen” inside its “rational domain” part of our spirituality; 2. this cultural attitude is an intrinsic necessity that characterize the final time of culture, and we can read these aspect through the artistic, architectural, musical, etc. symbolism. The built environment, with its geometrical symbolism, talks about the culture that has generate it, and express the intimate values of a culture. So, if in the past the built environment was interconnected with their physical and spiritual surrounding, the contemporary has express the excessive power of mechanical culture determining the loss of human identity in favour of “artificial identity”. This artificial structure has transferred its cultural reductionism also to urbanism and architecture caused laceration of society and deformation of ethical and esthetical values. This new design represent and symbolize new values like hedonism and a devoid sense of nothing, and are sculptural expression of a society. I’ll demonstrate because this happen today, what we can learn from the past, and i propose a new approach, structured on holistic way and able to demonstrate that the science can and must married the beauty and spirituality.

Sacred Architecture and Public Space under the Conditions of a New Visibility of Religion

Religions, 2020

Embedded in the paradigm of the "New Visibility of Religion," this article addresses the question of the significance of sacred buildings for public spaces. 'Visibility' is conceived as religion's presence in cities through the medium of architecture. In maintaining sacred buildings in cities, religions expose themselves to the conditions of how cities work. They cannot avoid questions such as how to counteract the tendency of public space to erode. Following some preliminary remarks on the "New Visibility of Religion," I examine selected sacred buildings in Vienna. Next, I focus on the motifs of the city, the "ark" as a model for sacred buildings and the aesthetic dimension of public space. Finally, I consider the contribution of sacred buildings to contemporary public spaces. What is at issue is not the subject that moves in public and visits sacred buildings with the aim of acquiring knowledge or with the urgency to act, but rather the subject that feels and experiences itself in its dealings with public space and sacred buildings. In this context, I refer to the experience of disinterested beauty (Kant), anachronism, multi-perspectivity (Klaus Heinrich), and openness (Hans-Dieter Bahr).

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Sacred design. Immaterial values, material culture

The Design Journal An International Journal for All Aspects of Design Volume 20, 2017 - Issue sup1: Design for Next: Proceedings of the 12th European Academy of Design Conference, Sapienza University of Rome, 12-14 April 2017, 2017