Table of Contents
Religious architecture is capable of expressing the ‘ indescribable ‘ and the transcendent. Hence, designing spaces that can provide the desired religious experience is a great challenge for the architect. In recent years, the architecture of the church has undergone major changes. In the 20th century, church buildings were influenced by multiple architectural trends such as functionality, minimalism, brutality, symbolism and digitization, especially in the last decade of the 20th century. But the look and style of the typical 21st century church building is trending towards something else among the rapid growth of churches. It is overwhelming that many interpretations and new design languages affect spirituality and space identity, misleading user – driven messages instead of creating atmospheres that can awaken senses, emotions, and trigger experiences. Accordingly, did architects focus more on the form, style, and trend of the church, neglecting the church’s main purpose?
This paper aims to decode the most prominent design languages of church architecture tracing how architects dealt with spaces in new perspective using new tools and elements.
The research will use a scientific methodology beginning by defining the meaning of churches giving literature review of its historical background, design approaches measuring many elements like facades, space organization and materials affecting the spirituality of worship spaces, seeking for design strategies that guides the representation of church buildings in new contemporary trends, through analyzing specific local and international case studies.
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Churches are about 2000 years old as Christianity itself. They have been considered as magnificent buildings since the Middle Ages and at the same time as symbols of encounters with God and a sense of security. Traditional Christian symbolism and an innovative language of form have merged into new connections in the modern religious buildings of the past two decades. (Teresa,2016)
That’s why spaces of worship are designed to inspire a spirit of worship and reverence. Man’s spirit is inspired to share a higher Deity’s deeper reflections when the spaces where worship is performed are designed to inspire such reverence. From the ancient African shrines to the current religious worship structures, man has always sought to honor some sort of Higher Deity. (Nemetchek,2017)
modern church buildings are a mirror of their time as well. Like innovation and sustainability, centuries – old traditions play an equally important role. The opulent facilities in earlier churches have given way to a new minimalism: what is essential is reduced instead of sensory overload. This creates room for the transcendent experience: the meeting with God. Art – formerly present as paintings, sculptures and frescoes – is shown through a plain and different form in modern churches. (Holzherr,2018)
The question is how new languages of church architecture can still preserve the spirituality of religious places with new styles and materials, and how architects deal with the combination of a whole new architectural expression of worship spaces and the main purpose of the existence of religious places. (Teresa,2016)
To investigate how spiritual places are expressed by architecture.
To investigate what elements are common to these places between ancient and contemporary churches.
Measuring the influence of new language elements in places of worship on the spiritual effect. (Anthony,2011)
Religious spaces as much as churches will lose spirituality once the language of expression of their form and materiality becomes modern approaches. (Anthony,2011)
A qualitative research was held to meet the goals of the dissertation. The main characteristic of qualitative research is that, while its results are not measurable and quantifiable, it is mostly suitable for small samples. Its fundamental advantage, which is also its fundamental difference with quantitative research, is that it provides a complete description and analysis of a research subject without limiting the scope of the research and the nature of the responses of the participant.
Church architecture refers to Christian church building architecture. It has evolved over the Christian religion’s two thousand years, partly through innovation and partly through imitating other architectural styles and responding to changing beliefs, practices and local traditions. From the birth of Christianity to the present, the great Byzantium churches, the Romanesque abbey churches, Gothic cathedrals and Renaissance basilicas with their emphasis on harmony were the most important objects of transformation for Christian architecture and design These large, often ornamented and architecturally prestigious buildings were dominant features of the towns and countryside they were in. The parish churches in Christendom, however, were far more numerous, the focus of Christian devotion in every town and village. While some are considered sublime architectural works equivalent to large cathedrals and churches, the majority developed along simpler lines, displaying great regional diversity and often demonstrating local vernacular technology and decoration. (Michael,1982).2.1 PERSPECTIVES OF RELIGIOUS FIGURES TOWARDS THE RECENT CHURCH ARCHITECTURE:
DeSanctis a priest in St. Jude the Apostle Church in Erie USA says:
“The architecture of the Church needs to bring together the clergy and the laity, not provide more separation opportunities. Priests of all ages and liturgical persuasions would begin to see their workplace less as a refuge for the lay faithful in charge of them than as a point of entry into full union with them when the Church gives voice to her prayers “. (Desanctis,2017)
St. John Paul II put this beautifully in his encyclical Ecclesia De Eucharistia:
“In the Eucharist, both directly and indirectly, architecture, sculpture, painting and music, moved by the Christian mystery, found a source of great inspiration. This was the case, for example, with the architecture that witnessed the transition from the first places of the Eucharistic celebration in the domus or “homes” of Christian families to the solemn basilicas of the early centuries, to the imposing cathedrals of the Middle Ages, to the large and small churches that gradually emerged throughout the centuries. The design of altars and tabernacles in the interior of the Church was often motivated not only by artistic inspiration but also by a clear understanding of the mystery. (Michael,2014)
PERSPECTIVES OF RELIGIOUS FIGURES TOWARDS THE RECENT CHURCH ARCHITECTURE:
DeSanctis a priest in St. Jude the Apostle Church in Erie USA says:
“The architecture of the Church needs to bring together the clergy and the laity, not provide more separation opportunities. Priests of all ages and liturgical persuasions would begin to see their workplace less as a refuge for the lay faithful in charge of them than as a point of entry into full union with them when the Church gives voice to her prayers “. (Desanctis,2017)
St. John Paul II put this beautifully in his encyclical Ecclesia De Eucharistia:
“In the Eucharist, both directly and indirectly, architecture, sculpture, painting and music, moved by the Christian mystery, found a source of great inspiration. This was the case, for example, with the architecture that witnessed the transition from the first places of the Eucharistic celebration in the domus or “homes” of Christian families to the solemn basilicas of the early centuries, to the imposing cathedrals of the Middle Ages, to the large and small churches that gradually emerged throughout the centuries. The design of altars and tabernacles in the interior of the Church was often motivated not only by artistic inspiration but also by a clear understanding of the mystery. (Michael,2014)
TRACING THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHURCH DESIGN:
What constitutes religious spaces has undergone an evolutionary sequence that has gradually included a much wider range of programs and functions.it features and focuses on collective experiences and the collective mind. (Maxwell,2017)
DESIGN APPROACHES
Brutalism Approach
In the 21st, brutalism became widely exposed as an approach to numerous churches, architects discovered that R.C conveys great skills in translating their philosophies of purity and sanctuary. As Menis Architects in the Church of La Laguna – Tenerife, Spain expanded the concrete capabilities to design a striking church composed of a large piece of concrete divided and cut into four large volumes, creating the feeling of movement at the separations. (Bartolacci, 2016).
