Designing sacred spaces

"Sacred spaces exemplify some of the most exciting and challenging architecture today. Designing Sacred Spaces tells the inside story of seven architecture firms and their approaches to designing churches, mosques, synagogues and temples, monasteries and retreats. Twenty beautifully illustrated case studies located in Asia, Europe, and North America are showcased alongside discussions with the designers into concept and design development, materiality, and spatial analysis. Complementing these are essays on the cultural, historical, and theoretical meaning and importance of sacred spaces. By exploring the way we see religion and how we understand secular and sacred space, Designing Sacred Spaces reveals how we see ourselves and how we see others"--Back cover.

Part 1. Introduction : Introduction -- New terms -- Architectural history and historiography -- Architectural construction of identity -- Part 2. Churches, mosques, and synagogues : Arcari+Iovino Architects -- hMa (Hanrahan Meyers Architects) -- Kris Yao Artech -- Makespace Architects -- OOPEAA (Office for Peripheral Architecture) -- Part 3. Reconceptualizing space : Conceptualizing space: scholarly discourses -- Geography and space -- Archaeology and space -- Part 4. Monasteries : Roto Architects -- Kris Yao Artech -- Part 5. The construction of religious spaces : Constructing religious space -- Symbols and space -- Project sites -- Part 6. Retreats : hMa -- Imbue Design -- Roto Architects -- Part 7. Understanding religions through architecture : Religious traditions: an overview in architecture -- Buddhism -- Christianity -- Islam -- Judaism -- Part 8. Biographies and observations : Arcari+Iovino Architects -- hMa (Hanrahan Meyers Architects) -- Imbue Design -- Kris Yao Artech -- Makespace Architects -- OOPEAA (Office for Peripheral Architecture) -- Roto Architects.