ABSTRACT

Architecture has long been understood as a cultural discipline able to articulate the human condition and lift the human spirit, yet the spirituality of architecture is rarely directly addressed in academic scholarship. The seventeen chapters provide a diverse range of perspectives, grouped according to topical themes: Being in the World; Sacred, Secular, and the Contemporary Condition; Symbolic Engagements; Sacred Landscapes; and Spirituality and the Designed Environment. Even though the authors’ approach the subject from a range of disciplines and theoretical positions, all share interests in the need to rediscover, redefine, or reclaim the sacred in everyday experience, scholarly analysis, and design.

part I|43 pages

Being in the World

chapter 3|12 pages

Encountering Significance

Architecture, Place, and Heidegger's Gods

part II|33 pages

Sacred, Secular, and the Contemporary Condition

part III|45 pages

Symbolic Engagements

chapter 8|16 pages

A Home in the World

The Ontological Significance of Home

chapter 10|14 pages

Narrating Chichén Itzá

Storytelling, Disagreement, and Second Naïveté at the “City of the Sacred Well”

part IV|42 pages

Sacred Landscapes

chapter 11|10 pages

Space, Object, and Encounter

chapter 13|15 pages

Sacred Landscapes

The Threshold between Worlds

part V|59 pages

Spirituality and the Designed Environment

chapter 14|18 pages

Secular Sacredness in Place Creation

A Case Study and Analysis of Serenbe Community

chapter 17|18 pages

From Within

On the Spiritual in Art and Architecture