ABSTRACT
The element ether was introduced by Aristotle as a boundless firmament filling the cosmological space of the universe. Ether was later related to the Celtic concept of “thin places” that form thresholds between terrestrial and celestial worlds. Rudolf Otto’s notion of fascinans, mysterium, and tremendum defines ether’s numinous experience. Ether is at the center of Edward William Soja’s theory of “Thirdspace,” containing the vital equivalence of both the real and imagined, known and unknown. And, there is ether’s relationship to Michael Brill’s concept of “charged places” and the physical patterns that define and enable them. The chapter argues for inclusion of these transcendent qualities in elemental architecture. In response to the beneficial qualities of ether, four case studies illustrate the focus of the element’s integration with emphasis on light, luminosity, aesthetic experience, and higher-level wellness. They are Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas; the Ribbon Chapel in Hiroshima, Japan; La Estancia Wedding Chapel in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and the Bloch Building in Kansas City, Missouri. Both sustainable and experiential qualities, including the need for numinous experiences and spiritual connections to our natural world, are presented as representing invisibility, subtlety, mystery, divinity, and the transformative powers of the element ether.
