God's Architecture

 Through learning more about God's Architecture it showed me that there is a much greater range between designs of faith, when looking closer at the designs from religion to religion it is clear that they all have different opinions on how to please their God or God's through a differing colour and or design. When learning the reasons for these differences in design it broadened my analysis and opened my eyes to see why they differ so much. 

The Kaaba in Mecca, the centre piece of the Muslim pilgrimage hajj, one of the 5 pillars of Sunni Islam.  Kaaba translates literally to cube and despite having a simple cube shape it is the most important building to Muslims and is considered God’s house, it has so much importance that Muslims will face Mecca when performing their daily prayers. This shows how key design in within religion as the structures are revered so importantly by so many millions. The Grand Mosque in Casablanca has the capacity to hold 25,000 worshippers at a time, as well as this the outer area of the mosque can hold another 25,000 Muslims for their prayers. In Christianity on the other hand symbolism is very key especially regarding stain glass windows and crosses. Stain glass windows are used to tell stories, especially for those who couldn’t read. What I found most interesting of all came under Buddhism, they believe bad spirits are held at floor level so it is important for a threshold when entering a Buddhist Temple, which was often in a beautiful landscape setting. The religion that differed most from the rest was shown by the Hindu temples which are very colourful and often decorated unlike other faiths.

      The basis of God's architecture describes that size and impact of light are some of the most key features, but I don't fully agree with this. It is clear to me that the most important features of these designs are the foundations , and not the physical ones, but the beliefs that built them. For example the Buddhist Temple, the entire design was based around the necessity for a threshold in order to keep bad spirits from entering, which differs it from any other reason for a threshold and from any other religion. Through this it has inspired me to think more like this when looking or inspiration in my future designs.