Galina Zapreva Architecture | PROJECTS | Multi Faith Architecture

INTRODUCTION

The following is a short description of a paper on multi faith architecture I wrote the as a master's thesis work at the Polytechnic university of Milan. At first, I intended to develop a design project. However, after complete research on the building typology, I came to realize there is a strong disconnect between the aims of existing multi religious spaces and the results they arrive to.

MULTI FAITH ARCHITECTURE
Multi faith architecture developed only recently as a building typology, yet there already exist more than 1 500 multi faith buildings in USA and UK alone. Such architecture has two main purposes. One is to provide a functional place to worship for religious people of different faiths in one building or complex. The other is to be a tool for interfaith dialogue and so a symbol of peace. As such it functions by pushing together people from different religions and in this way makes them interact and learn about their shared value.

THE PROBLEM

The design of multi faith architecture is currently based on a reductionist approach and has so far almost always resulted in one common praying hall for all congregations. This leads to a number of practical and conceptual issues such as overlapping of services, conflicting rituals, special organization, decoration and many others. Due to the different and sometimes opposing requirements of religions, existing multi faith spaces tend to include only features common to all religions, but not the ones that each considers sacred as those can be offensive for people from other faiths. As a consequence, the spaces are bare and do not attract religious people, but rather “spiritual” ones (figure 1), meaning the primary aim (to provide a functional place to worship) is not met. In turn, the lack of religious people means that useful interfaith dialogue cannot occur.

From the above analysis it is clear that the existing multi faith architecture fails to meet both of its purposes.

THE NEW APPROACH

In the paper, I suggest a new (separative) approach. It provides individual praying halls for each congregation group, a common religious square (public space), as well as common secondary building functions such as a community center, day care and charity. The separation to single-faith praying halls solves all of the issues of the current approach and so creates spaces suitable for devoutly religious people (figure 1). The presence of these devout worshippers is essential for an effective interfaith dialogue. I also propose a new approach to the establishment of the dialogue which is based on the practice of successful interfaith organizations. It aims to create a community among worshipers using emotional attachment to the common public space and society oriented secondary functions. The thesis focuses on congregations of Christians, Jews and Muslims as these are the most common religions in today’s multicultural society. However, the same principles can be applied for any other combination of faiths. The work is based on scientific publications on perception of religious spaces, emotional place attachment and its influence on people’s behavior, as well as comparative analysis between individual religions’ building typologies. As an example, I have developed a conceptual design project in Jerusalem which illustrates how the separative approach can be applied.

IMPORTANCE

The importance of multi faith architecture lies in the fact that it can positively influence one’s perception of people from other religions and cultures and so helps to prevent social cohesion and conflicts. Such issues have always been important but the world is becoming even more diverse. Thus, clashes between cultures have the potential to become a big part of the modern society. Through the separative approach, multi faith architecture can become a place where people from different backgrounds turn into a community, contributing to interfaith dialogue and integration.

A NEW APPROACH TO MULTI FAITH ARCHITECTURE