ABSTRACT

Hiding oneself and other things they want to keep secret or private is part of architecture. It involves identifying – recognising and making – places of concealment. Organising space almost always involves deciding what is open to the world and visitors and what is closed, private, hidden. Children hide their Dads under mounds of sand. Murderers hide their victims in shallow graves. Every once in a while, metal detectorists celebrate finding a hoard of treasure buried in the ground hundreds or thousands of years ago. Part of the enjoyment of exploring cities is the experience of contrast between public spaces – wide busy streets and open piazzas – and hidden places – quiet narrow passageways and small secluded courtyards. Even in the twentieth-first century there are religious communities that live hidden lives even in the centre of cities. There is clear metaphorical potential in relating religion to the hidden; the spiritual is mysterious.