Evolution of architecture & Religious Building

Hola guys! I'm going to roughly introduce this blog and its owner which is me hehe I'm Amelia, a current Interior Architecture Design student which is based in Malaysia. The purpose of this blog is to act as a mind map and to collect ideas from various sources for my final assignment which I would say is a pretty innovative and interesting way for brain storming.

Let's go straight to the title of the assignment, 'What identifies a religious building? '. 84% of the world population has religion (Jennifer, 2016).  Religious building is a place to worship God and to chant one's prayer. In my opinion, religion helps providing hope and faith in life especially to those who are lost since ancient times. Different religions have different places for worshiping for example, Buddhists go to temples while Christians go to churches and Mosques are for the followers of Islam and so on.

As right now in this modern era, the evolution of Architectural Design is obvious and noticeable over centuries. The structures of religious building may alter through the evolution of architecture, but should future architecture for religious building designed in neutral-appearance or should it uphold to its respective religious significant characteristics? Well, in my opinion, religious building should has its style remained outstanding with its significant identities different from the contemporary architecture that can be in seen in other structures.

Religious building serves a total different meaning and purpose compared to other structures, it often evoke a spiritual feeling. One may say that a hollowed ambient space purely for prayer is enough but come to think of it visualization is very important, human are naturally drawn to good design (Hosey, 2013). A great religious building design may leave a mark in the history for example, the famous Church of the Light by architect Tadao Ando. Church of the Light is a great example of the mixture of remaining the characteristics of a church but yet including splendid architectural design.

Exterior of Church of the Light, concrete wall with church's significant symbol of the cross.

Source: (Church of Light by Tadao Ando, n.d.)

Source : (Tadao Ando’s Church of Light in Ibaraki, Japan., n.d.)

  

The cross cut in the concrete wall allows penetration of sunlight. The entire space looks minimal but yet it's a perfect place for sincere prayers, it's like you will be able to find peace just by sitting on the bench.

Source:(TADAO ANDO Church of the Light, n.d.)

That's it for today guys, hope you enjoy!!! Stay tuned for the next update. <3

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References:

Hosey, L. (2013). Why We Love Beautiful Things. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/opinion/sunday/why-we-love-beautiful-things.html?_r=0 [Accessed 24 May 2016].

Jennifer, H. (2016). 84 percent of the world population has faith; a third are Christian - Washington Times. [online] Washingtontimes.com. Available at: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2012/dec/23/84-percent-world-population-has-faith-third-are-ch/ [Accessed 24 May 2016].


Images Sources:

Church of Light by Tadao Ando. (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/dd/37/ae/dd37aea2b1e969a2cdaf5ad0a27ae81d.jpg [Accessed 24 May 2016].


TADAO ANDO Church of the Light. (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Y22LxAnHlWk/maxresdefault.jpg [Accessed 24 May 2016].

Tadao Ando’s Church of Light in Ibaraki, Japan. (n.d.). [image] Available at: http://www.projectfreerange.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/JB-Church-of-Light-4.jpg [Accessed 24 May 2016].