Sublime Light: Spiritual Space for Secular Times

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In Folder: 2021 Theses

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Sublime Light: Spiritual Space for Secular Times

Submitted to the Department of Architecture in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, April 2021

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title: Sublime Light: Spiritual Space for Secular Times

creator: Alegria Paez

subject: Light in architecture; Daylighting; Shades and shadows in architecture; Sacred space; Religious architecture

description: Although the demand for religious spaces has waned, the interplay of light, shadow and scale historically used to create impactful sacred architecture can be employed in secular spaces to effect sublime experiences. For millennia, sunlight has been used to define and create our architecture. Religious spaces and places of worship have made particularly effective use of natural light to create powerful, heightened emotional experiences of space. However, as the world becomes increasingly nonreligious, architecture can be used to capture light in a sublime way within a spiritual but secular context rather than a religious one. By studying and cataloging how daylight is used in key precedents, certain strategies emerge as most successful in creating sublime space. To test the efficacy of these strategies at different latitudes, this thesis applies them to the design of several hikers’ shelters locatedon trails in the northern hemisphere and along the equator. The placement of the shelters throughout remote landscapes contraststhe architectural and the natural sublime. Within, each shelter sculpts light and shadow in an enclosed space of rest that can elicit a contemplative experience for the user. Upon re-emerging into the landscape, the hiker is primed to appreciate the inherent sublimity of the nature that surrounds them.

publisher: The Douglas D. Schumann Library and Learning Commons, Wentworth Institute of Technology

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date: 2021

type: Thesis

format: .pdf

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language: eng

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rights: https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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