ARCH-1007 – Sacred Places – Winter 2020
This is the first architectural history course in a sequence of courses on different cultural histories. The survey course introduces several examples of places – both buildings and public places – that were designed with sacred geography in mind. Through lectures and case studies, the course examines various cosmology myths and symbolic buildings in order to situate architecture within a holistic and sacred context. Nature and natural phenomenon to be studied include the elements, landforms, and symbolic narratives from several cultural traditions in Canada and abroad.
Course taught by Tammy Gaber.
The first major assignment, the creation of a detailed model of a contemporary sacred space was developed with an emphasis on phenomenological and hermeneutical interpretations of space as tools to connect primary sources of mythologies to physical expression in the material arts, landscape and architecture. Each student selected one of 35 different contemporary sacred spaces from across the world and from different faith practices. The construction of a 1:1 to 1:5 detail of the building using a variety of materials allowed each student to understand the material and experiential qualities of the building they were studying. After completing a model of one detail from the building students continued their research utilizing textual sources.
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