I have tried to use spirituality to create a more tightly knit and welcoming community within Floriana, and break the boundaries that exist between different religious beliefs, in the hope that this social experiment would spread outward from Floriana and catalyse a similar effect wherever it goes.
I started by studying what it is that creates a community. From my research, I found that any type of community is essentially based on trust between its members. The community grows depending on how quickly and to what extent members of the community trust outsiders, and thus invite them to join. This act of accepting strangers into an already existing community was my focus since I believe this is the way I can hope to break the boundaries between different religious beliefs and create a multi-religious, or rather multi-spiritual, community. I continued to study this interaction in detail and found that as humans, our tendency to trust outsiders depends greatly on the level of similarity we identify in these outsiders (be it tangible or intangible similarity).
Following this realisation, my next step was to identify a universal similarity between the different religions I chose to tackle, which I would express through my pop-up architecture. To do so, I studied each religion's beliefs and practices:
- Ancient Egypt & Ancient Temples - Starting from the earliest forms of religion I found that these beliefs idolised a multitude of 'tangible' gods, usually rivers, mountains and other significant geographical features. But, as beliefs evolved, they became diluted to idolise one singular god, in most cases: the Sun. This transition from multiple gods to one was something I thought would be central to my design, since at its roots this is the transition which my architecture had to replicate: dilute many different spiritual focal points, to a singular focus.
- My next step was to study the way in which these various religions worship their respective gods, in the hope that I would find a universal similarity which would satisfy all beliefs. The one common element I found in all beliefs was the expression of natural beauty and the way in which it was used to facilitate a tangible connection between believers of a particular faith and their god/s. For example, the early faiths (previously mentioned) worshipped the natural beauty of their geographical surroundings; The Hindus worship millions of gods, each personified in a statuette adorned with valuable items and materials. The Hindu belief stipulates that in order to begin the act of worship, a particular Hindu god must be invoked through the rhythmic chanting of syllables; Similarly, in the Islamic faith a call to prayer, sung by the Muezzin, signifies the beginning of worship. This song is believed to be the epitome of beauty and a manifestation of god himself. Also, mosques are designed specifically to contain sounds and images which delight the senses, which emphasises the manifestation of god in beauty; Christianity's method of worship employs tools which are uncannily similar to that of the Islamic faith. Most notably, in the way in which it designs, it's churches and places of worship to emphasise light, colour, verticality and more often than not, geometrical perfection and symmetry.
All in all, this study led me to conclude that the one universal similarity between all faiths, is the employment and expression of natural beauty in spiritual architecture, which stimulates the senses and serves its purpose to bridge the 'believer' to the 'belief'.
Having applied my research to the context at hand (Floriana) I concluded that I need to create a temporary space which does not compete with the existing religious establishments in the area, but provides an alternative, with the difference that space should be universal to all faiths. Moreover, my architecture must play on themes of verticality, ambient sounds and creating a central focus about which the users will be able to 'meditate'. In addition, my architecture should facilitate equality between religions, promote participation of the users, and ensure a gradual transition which would carefully dilute different faiths into one spiritual act by highlighting the similarity of natural beauty.
