Anticipation of Contemporary Sacred Buildings - New Directions in Designing Semantic Architecture

Abstract

Architecture, particularly sacral architecture, has always been an answer to the transcendent needs of humans of a given era. For today’s humans, order is only an element of the matter. The religious scholar Charles Taylor, when describing the contemporary world, used a reverse version of this concept - a >disenchanted world<. Contemporary religiousness is a radical departure of humans from the cosmos. A man, also in the religious sphere, emphasises the individual and private nature of experiencing the sacred, which is unquestionably important for contemporary creators of sacral spaces. The analysis of sacral constructions in Europe within the last 20 years clearly shows that spaces which particularly stand out are those used for individual prayer, rather than liturgy of the community of believers. This is probably caused by the needs of the contemporary human, who has a new, more individualised way to pursue happiness, as well as by loosening of certain bonds and common ways of living. At the same time, facilities intended for group ceremonies are also created. Lukas Feiresiss, in the book entitled: “Closer to God”, divides the latest sacred projects around the world into three groups: “Silent Prayer”, “Living Worship”, “Amazing Grace”. However, scientific publications mostly present small projects for individual prayer and mostly for contemplation. This individualisation is reflected in the quiet places – small chapels. It is difficult to say that it is a common tendency; surely works of contemporary sacral architecture are created that are designed for the community of believers. However, the formation of many places of quiet or focus within the last dozen or so years is a new phenomenon. An aspect of this phenomenon is also interesting from the point of view of symbols used in such places. In the age of continuous information flow, quiet and individual prayer constitute opportunities to enter the space of the sacred. Contemporary small forms of quiet reflection indicate various trends; the semantic aspect of these forms is the key to architectural criticism. Due to the a priori nature of phenomena related to symbols, this layer remains unchanged. When describing symbols of places of quiet reflection, the symbols used should be described: gateways, nave and aisles, stair vaults, circles, arches of the heavens, and apses. All these elements form unique sequences of form, at the same time referring to cosmological symbolism. Contemporary sacred architecture is characterised by many extreme stylistic directions. In spite of the above, architects in their creative work reach for the original patterns – semantic archetypes, and all the aforementioned projects are saturated with symbols of the cosmological order. The anticipation of sacral architecture is the myth about creation of the world and the primeval beginning. For architects, it is important that “the archetype can be repeated (imitated) in a primitive manner”, but also that a man seeks, even at the lowest level of his religious experience, to come close to the archetype and to realise it in some manner. The contemporary man, in spite of advanced technology and mastery of the matter, in many aspects still desires symbols, as he remains Homo symbolicus. In the sacral architecture, it seems to be impossible to escape the Platonian triad: the good, the truth and the beauty. Return to the original patterns and ideas in the sacral architecture indicates the stability and the a priori nature of semantic forms. Natural matter, cosmological symbols not only indicate the constancy of sacral meanings, but also constitute a guideline for future creators.