ABSTRACT

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Provocation:

A traditional interior for practicing Christian beliefs is defined by inherent spiritual symbolic and spatial elements. How can these elements be transferred rearranged and reimagined within a contemporary space, that is determined by ones own personal experience of this type of program?

 

A traditional place of worship for Christianity embodies the religious beliefs through the use of Godly symbolism and specific design elements. This project revolves around investigating historical Christian spaces, both traditional and contemporary, through mapping and comparing of spatial/symbolic qualities. A place of worship is used to inform an individual or congregation of the belief, and the physical space itself provides an atmosphere that connects and inspires a person during their experience of worship.

 

Therefore I am interested in understanding how one can experience and practice their beliefs within a non-traditional space, without limiting the physical and visual experience that must accompany this particular type of program. It is important to create an interpretation of a Christian place of worship that function to still inform and inspire those who experience it.

 

This became an interest due to initially exploring repetitive methods of altering a physical or visual perspective of a structure, whilst ensuring that the existing materiality of that structure was not changed. The correlation between previous explorations and studies and my current project undertaken, is that spiritual interiors traditionally rely on various repetitive design methods to be created in a manner that is aligned with what is expected for that particular interior program. There is also an emphasis on the modesty and simplicity of the use of materiality for Christian places of worship. The purpose of this body of work is to uncover alternative approaches to designing places of Christian worship that can cater to the needs of a modern day society.