Design Process for a Church Project
The church architect will establish a pre-design mode of discovery initially, in a discovery process, involving a kind of “spiritual programming” to determine the “faith identity” of the community. This involves intense listening on the part of the architect, to the expressions of the congregation as a whole, to the way of worship, the movement through the spiritual as well as physical space….the faith journey this community takes toward God. Beyond the physical determinants of space, which are determined in a separate survey, an emphasis is placed on the discovery of intangibles of this community; the colors, tones that energize the need to feel the Presence of “Other” and senses those spatial qualities that draw their collective heart close to God.
This emphasis, while unconventional, has been determined because of the very nature of the worship, religious communities practice. It is basically a spiritual activity. Our hearts feed on the spirit. It is our food. We long for evidence of the divine. It is there for us. In spite of the medieval concept of inspiring the mind and heart up to heaven, we have learned that God is not “up”. He is in our hearts and in his creation. The spaces we worship must respond to that by creating the Presence of Other. We believe the most powerful source of presence is Light. We as humans are Photonic, and are drawn to light naturally and by allowing natural light pierce the building enclosure through hidden openings into the interior, a sense of mysterious presence can appear. A very powerful environment is born, when all things-visible are designed with this in mind, using color, texture, space, and when the community of believers gather around the sacrifice join together to worship the Lord.
