Light and shadow in prayer - Dissertation Example

?Light and shadow in prayer Insert Task Architecture is an art of design that takes in consideration of designing artistic models to enhance the conditions of the environment. It uses the natural available material to compose equipments that of great importance to human being and environment itself. Artists start from developing simple ideas, which in turn improve and become more significant in the world. Association of light and the church is an artistic style that has developed for a long period from 12th and 13th centuries. Since then, the use of light and darkness has developed to a level that is applauded by all church members, priests, believer and artists who engage in development techniques. it is in this view that the paper intents to provide a critical analysis of development of light and darkness in the church, the effect they have brought and the future of the artistic styles in using environment to enhance Godliness in the church. Introduction Architecture is the act of designing and creating buildings. It involves creating a style and a method of how a building is going to be constructed. This paper is going to define what prayer and the understanding what the church is. It will assess the early Christian communities and the origin of church building (Fletcher & Cruickshank, 2004). The paper will examine factors affecting the architectural churches and the origin of architectural church, the reformation and its influence in the church. The paper will look at modernism, a period after reformation and then asses the relationship between Light and shadow. Finally, it will look at the use of light in churches and prayer and light in the architectural churches (Pevsner, 2002). Meaning of Architecture Architecture describes structures and buildings; it also refers to a method of designing and constructing artifacts.  Architectural design needs to fulfill feasibility and cost for the builder, in addition has to be functional and aesthetic for user. In order to understand architecture that surrounds us we need to analyze it. Light and shadows throughout centuries was helping big architects to design buildings. Basing on either on natural sun or artificial lights they were creating big structures. Light was creating illusion and illumine effect. The light is of great importance in the interior, also plays an important role in the perception of space. For centuries, religious buildings were created with particular attention to proper lighting the holy place. The natural light should not be forgotten in the architecture, and the words of Le Corbusier "Architecture is a smart, coordinated play of masses in the light," it should be the most important doctrine. Prayer Prayer is defined in so many ways and the various definitions that are given are normally associated with the experiences of those defining them. The first definition that we can talk of is prayer being a communication. Prayer is regarded as a means of communicating with God. Ordinarily, when people are communicating, it takes at least two people to communicate. When people are communicating, there is a message that is being sent to the receiver, the receiver is expected to encode the message and then give a feedback to the sender. When communicating with God, the same process is expected to take place. The person communicating with God, sends a message to God where by God is expected to receive the message and give a feedback. The feedback from God is normally regarded as fulfilled expectations of the person who is communicating with Him (Giles, 2004). The diagram below shows a priest and a church member communicating to God together. http://img.tfd.com/wn/30/605C7-prayer.png In connection with communication is the notion that prayer is talking to God. Communication involves talking to someone just like in prayer it is believed that we talk to God and hence a conversation with God. We normally hold a conversation with people who can hear us. In prayer, we therefore recognize the presence of God whom we talk and even listen to (Fletcher & Cruickshank, 2004). Prayer is also regarded as being in the presence of God. When people go to be in the presence of God, they just do not go to be there for the sake of being there but normally with a reason. Some people say that they go in the presence of God to receive things such as blessings and favors among other things. If one goes somewhere expecting to receive something, it means one has to be humble in asking whatever it is they are asking for. They should also have an open mind, in that what they are asking for may not be granted there and then but may be granted later (Giles, 2004). There are different postures that one can use when communicating to God. For instance, one can talk to God while lying flat on the flour, standing upright with both hands up in the air, facing the wall and people can pray together as a group. Additionally the most common posture is that when a person goes to his or her knees and humbles before the creator just in the same way the pastor and his church member have humbled before God in the above diagram (Howard, 2006). Other postures used in praying are shown below. There are different reasons why people pray. For instance, people pray when they ask their creator to do something for them. When there is natural calamity like drought, hunger, floods, and Earthquakes, people always seek the intervention of God to stop the problem. In other occasions, people pray to God when they give thanks to Him. This might be following the good deeds that God could have done to individual people (Fletcher & Cruickshank, 2004). The church The first perception that many people have about the church is that it is a building. A building; where people meet in order to pray, people go to listen to the word God and speak to God. The first perception therefore is the physical visible structure. In the article “believers.org”, a church is referred to as “a group of believers in Jesus Christ, associated, under Christ, for His purposes.” From that definition, the element of the physical structure is not emphasized; the emphasis is on the faith in Jesus Christ. Believers are people who have something in common in Jesus Christ. This implies that a church can exist as long as there is a group of people who believe in Jesus Christ and that the uniting factor is Jesus Christ even in the absence of a physical building (Howard, 2006), The early Christian Community The first Christians community was made up by the immediate eleven apostles, a group of women who use to be with the apostles and some of Jesus’ relatives. On the onset of Christianity, there were no buildings called churches. The believers used to pray in their houses privately because at time there were many restrictions on the Christian faith. People who confessed their faith in Jesus Christ in public risked being persecuted or even being killed. The birth of Christianity came with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which was surrounded by many controversies. There were two versions about the missing body of Jesus, three days after He was crucified, died and buried (Giles, 2004). For the disciples of Jesus, they claimed that Jesus had resurrected as Jesus had prophesied when he was with the disciples before His crucifixion to death. The people who were opposed to Jesus spread the story that the disciples of Jesus, stole his body, took it elsewhere, and they started claiming that Jesus had resurrected. The camp that was opposed to Jesus did not therefore want to hear the believers in Jesus claiming the resurrection of Jesus. For the believers, the resurrection of Christ was the pillar of their faith and they were bound to profess that. Looking at the environment under which the early Christians practiced their faith, there were so many threats that one needed to have strong faith to say openly that they are Christians and that they believe in Jesus (Fletcher & Cruickshank, 2004). The early Christians therefore met in their own houses secretly and would have private prayers together. At a time when there were heightened persecutions, they would even come up with signs that will enable them to identify each other as Christians. Such a sign include a picture of a fish. Christians would have such signs to help them know each other quickly. Due to the persecution that was there, prayers use to take place in the house and therefore peoples own houses were used as a church. Therefore, it can be said that the homes of Christians were the first church. The origin of church buildings In the 4th century, the Roman emperor who was there kind of “legalized” Christianity. This meant that the Christians would worship freely and therefore would profess their faith openly. This led to conversion of many people who probably were afraid to confess their faith when there were so many restrictions. It is at this time that Christians started building churches as an expression of their faith. Houses that were used in the Roman Empires were very big in comparison to ordinary homes today (Pevsner, 2002). The housed were used for both residential and business purposes. Being a multipurpose house, it could accommodate up to a hundred people. With the popularity of Christianity, such houses could accommodate many people and therefore some of them were converted to churches before completing their building process (Howard, 2006). Initially when the Christians started building the churches, the buildings were influenced by the locality. The design of the church was influenced by the design of the local structures. The materials that were used to construct the local houses were the very materials that were used to construct the church building (Howard, 2006). If the people used mud bricks to build their houses to their houses and thatch them with banana leaves, these are the very materials that would be used to build the church. The people were quite comfortable with those buildings since they reflected their own culture. Most importantly is that some of the church structures were known as synagogues. These are the buildings that were built in the ancient Judaism era, which represented the faith of Christians. The diagram below shows one of the synagogues in the region (Giles, 2004). http://d5iam0kjo36nw.cloudfront.net/V11p629001.jpg Architecture and history The issue of lights in designing of buildings has been in existence since the construction of the Tower lights. Reverend Jonathan in 2006 spearheaded a project aimed at implementing new lighting system in the Tower of lights. The existing lights at the building were only effective at the base of the structure while leaving other parts dark at night. The lighting system was old and ineffective and in fact the church users were uncomfortable with the lighting. Some of the users even complained that the lighting provided more heat than light contrary to the expectations of the system. Banes approved a new lighting system which had improved architectural design. The new design prevented or controlled light pollution and was thus very effective in saving energy. He noted that there was no need of having a lighting system that produced more heat than light. He further added that an appropriate lighting system should cover all the parts of a structure and not a few areas. Various constructors agreed that the structure was magnificent and deserved a better lighting system. The new lighting system was put in place and the project proved successful. The new lighting system is now controlled from a central point and the new power LEDS that are used cover the entire church. The power supplies were connected to a bell chamber in the interior of the church. The project has given the users of the Tower of lights a fresh taste and the building is now comfortable to use. Orthodox Church Architecture The Orthodox Church is another example of a church building that has passed the lighting test. The building which was constructed more than a decade ago has a well installed lighting system that is comfortable to church goers. The Orthodox Church has established a new temple in Indianapolis to satisfy the increasing demand for church services in the area. The building has acknowledged modern architectural designs because it has employed new designs that have newer been employed by the Orthodox Church before (Schloeder, 1998). The new church has effective lighting system that serves the needs of the worshipers in a comfortable way. He designers recognized the significance of light and shadow in prayer and devised a system that saved on energy and minimized heat production as much as possible. The design of the lighting system is based on a triangulated plan where the triangular-shape signifies the nucleus of the faith of the worshipers and the Holy trinity. The triangle’s major edges and minor ones bear the vital lighting gadgets which serve the interior side of the structure. This lighting system provides a plan that offers grander and intimacy of the appropriate levels (Schloeder, 1998). Factors affecting the architecture of churches Later on, the church structures took another turn. There were varied designs of churches in different regions although within the same historic time (Schloeder, 1998). The design of the church was influenced by the locality such as the location in the city and the location in terms of town or village. The other factor that influenced the design of the church was the financier. Wealthy families would contribute towards the building of a particular church. Such people would have a say on the design of the church since they were financiers. Churches were devoted to saints and relics of these saints were placed in the church. Such relics would attract people to come as pilgrims from everywhere. Other objects that were placed in the church were meant to assist people in prayer. Churches that had relics had a higher status that churches that did not have relics. The building of the worship places mainly considered the availability of light in different areas to provide specific functions at different times. For example when there is bright sunlight, the light could penetrate into the church building providing the faithful members with a feeling of presence of God in their midst (Giles, 2004). History of light in church architecture Light in church buildings has been a critical issue for designers and constructors since the beginning of church construction. Different people have recognized the significance of light in church because it is a significant factor that influences the church goes participation in church activities. Church for every worshiper is a place of reflection, meditation and humility. Even more illumination in the interior of the temple is not only a useful function, but also celebrated clever directing attention to the most important place in the church-altar. Designing the interior of the temple with light begins so the general lighting. Next, design a "second plan" the production of sculptures and paintings (Giles, 2004). "Shadow self, the shadow cast contrast with elements illuminated an significant factor highlighting the three-dimensionality. Keeping in mind that lighting is to offer festivity of the liturgy, and not interfere and create a caricature of the interior architecture. Sites such as the altar should be issued to the fore, because it's on it is the focus of concentration of the faithful, then there is the most significant ritual plays which is the liturgy (Giles, 2004). It should fall on beam, and the wall behind him cannot be over-lit, so that was the focal point was clear from the darker background. Another equally significant and perhaps most significant place is the tabernacle. Tabernacle because of its purpose is in most Roman Catholic churches in or near the rear of the chancel. Paintings, sculptures and images of saints should also be showing to a certain extent. Several light sources will often create a harmonious whole. The nave because of its function may be slightly darker, it is faithful to focus all his concentration to the chancel and priest (Giles, 2004). People should not fear to operate on artificial light. However, ill-fitting applied to visible light to a lesser or greater extent, may have a negative impact on the aesthetic experience of the faithful and visitors. In addition, it is a lack of knowledge in light of skill and consulting conservator or interior designer. In the current era, when the substance is used to hide the high quality luminary, so that was not visible it should not cause trouble. Widely used in modern lighting systems allow you to make energy-efficient and resilient light source, which excludes old antique chandeliers by becoming a just decorative (Giles, 2004). One also can not forget about the stained glass windows. They largely function as a touching thanks to which we feel in the church as a holy place. They often define the beauty of an object. One must also mention the human physiology. Gross operating light in the face the celebrant is not the best solution. Also, do not overdo it with too much light, which can cause destruction to the exposed parts of the interior. Inappropriate lighting causes poor mental and physical behavior, distracting and irritating (Giles, 2004). Natural light is inadequate to extract the appropriate place in the church. Although there are sequences in the day, when possible, but it is known that natural light is not predictable. There are different seasons; there are also different days - both cloudy and sunny. It was then that should appear artificial lighting to assist natural light. Well-placed artificial lighting can help smooth the sun and imitate them. Imitating the effect of the sun, keeping lighting in such places on the walls as natural is quite complicated, but interesting. Light reflected from the wall is a clear imitation of the spread light (Weaver, 2003).Artificial lighting is not the aim of the project, but merely a means for extracting the most significant elements to support religious and natural light. It is worth remembering. The reformation and its influence on the church Martin Luther spearheaded the church reformation that took place in the 16th century. With the introduction of the reformation, the church designs were affected. The architectural structure of the church before the 16th century contributed to the worshipping pattern in the churches. The churches at that time were portioned into various parts that could not be accessed by other members of the congregations about from the ones who were authorized. This partitioning of the church affected the participation of the congregation to some extent. The worship appeared one sided. With the preachers taking, the most active part while the rest of the congregation’s participation was minimal. Luther’s reformation aimed at encouraging full participation of the congregation when they are worshipping (Weaver, 2003). Modernism After Luther’s reformation, there followed another period referred to as modernism. The movement that came at this time came up with an idea that the sharing of the word was a corporate activity. A corporate activity call for team work where by each member it expected to their best for good and the growth of the corporation. The chief executive officer (CEO) in any corporation is expected to be a leader in the sense that he leads, and others follow. The CEO cannot do everything on the company single-handed; one has to work and corporate with the other members. This was possibly the idea held by the modernism movement (Weaver, 2003). Light and shadow The natural light and the way the natural light is designed impacts on the atmosphere of sacred places. One author points out that “light and shadow determine the spatial qualities of a place (books.google.co.ke)”. This implies that light plays a role in determining the spatial qualities of a place. In using light for creating such kind of atmosphere, the light has to be in the light amount. Too much or too little light may not yield the desired atmosphere. A holy atmosphere that creates a serene environment is what is desired as people go to pray in churches. Light in the Church The element of light in the church has its background in Theology (books.google.co.ke). Theology is study of religion and beliefs. The Christians theology believes that God is the creator of light as expressed in the Bible creation story in Genesis chapter one. Hence, the lighting in churches and lighting design for churches has its origin from theology. In this relation, the church is usually identified as a place for every believer to make his or her meditation with his or her creator. Light signifies the presence of God and therefore, it is not much important considered for illumination purposes in the church (Weaver, 2003). There are different places in the church that require different levels of light. For example the church-alter will need a more light to enable the believers see clearly the priest while he is ministering the word of God to them. This can promote the understanding and faith among the believers. To achieve this effect, some designers use different skills for illuminating the church-alter. Depending on the design of the church, like the ancient three facade used higher object without walls to allow light inside the church. This allowed the church member participate fully in the church programs and achieved the required intentions of communicating with their creator through singing, prayers and dancing (Pevsner, 2002). Significance of light to Gothic Architecture Imagine an Egyptian temple, whose tour begins with a well-lit room. The fact that the sun's rays break down in the well-constructed properly testify lotus flowers generously wrapped around the supports. Going further we pass dark room to then direct his steps towards the interior of which only the priests had access. There, amid the darkness emerges the figure of the deity through a separate hole in the ceiling through which filtered white pole, the parallel light (Pevsner, 2002). In this case, the light has the opposite meaning than it sounds, does not give life. Hence, buildings, and religious character were rarely covers the slots commonly found. The development of Gothic architecture allowed for the introduction of cross-ribbed vaults so that were built larger and higher objects without load-bearing wall. This enabled the introduction of larger panes of glass, stained glass windows to the interior. Thus, religious buildings such as the exterior and interior were a kind of architectural art of the period. Lights main aisle allowed participating in the mass of all the faithful. Light meant omnipresence of God (Pevsner, 2002). The three-division of the frontage The Renaissance introduced the interior lighting of the sacred building through the windows in the drum of the dome. Baroque and cleverly used the unusual diagonal composition. This created a unique atmosphere: climate, theatrical, dreamlike (Giles, 2004). The twentieth century using new materials, the larger the span, understanding the idea of light is just a drop in the ocean of the achievement. Departure from the doctrinal views of ecclesiastical buildings, ecclesiastical institutions bold move, and breaking faith with the canon of objects resulted in a rash of incredible churches. The best example is certainly the pilgrimage chapel Roncharp Le Corbusier. It aroused a unique impression on all who saw it from the outside as well as inside (Giles, 2004). Currently the designers use transparent iron sheets to enable light get into the church, the architectural design that took its course during the 12th and 13th centuries. Other areas that can destruct believers in the church are left with little darkness. This is an artistic design that helps the believers and the priests to concentrate only on important areas and avoid any destruction during the church service and prayer. The combination of light and darkness is a great artistic design that has achieved applauses from many church believers. The diagram shows the three-division of the facade that set lighting the church in pace (Giles, 2004). Prayer and Light in the Architectural Churches Light was one of the factors that influenced the designing of churches in the 12th and 13th century. Light was considered to be the source of beauty in the church. Therefore, the churches were designed in a way that allowed the penetration of light, in the light amount. The amount of light that would be required in the church would determine the materials that would be used to build the church. For instance in the Gothic church, the walls were made of colored glass while the windows were made of a fusion of the immaterial light. All these materials were chosen with reasons (Fletcher & Cruickshank, 2004). Transparent glasses allows light to pass through. The use of transparent glass windows was used in order to allow light get into the interiors of the churches. This light helped to light up the ceiling and therefore illuminating the altar. Such a scene helped the church environment create an environment where people felt the presence of God. To the believers, prayer means being in the presence of God (Fletcher & Cruickshank, 2004). The photograph below indicates a church that has been designed with architectural skills to allow the mixing of light and darkness in different areas of interest. The windows are positioned at strategic points where light from the sun can penetrate easily and make the house of the Lord feel His presence. The main regions of interest get proper light while those regions that can affect the attention of the church members remain somehow dark. For instance, it is possible to see the setting of the church-alter comfortably (Schloeder, 1998). http://www.firstthings.com/userImages/8367/germanus1.jpg The idea of light in building like the church came into existence through various repeated efforts of architectures Dibbets and his close friend Rudi. They performed several operations involving grass. They did these practices by use of a camera, taking several photographs while increasing or reducing the conditions of light intensity. They also did it through reducing or increasing the length of time, which they exposed to light. They identified that there came a resultant difference in the intensity of light (Weaver, 2003). The region of concrete squared forms became fused due to the series of constant shifting nuances together with illusions of photographs. The first resultant figures were black and white mounted photographs. They improved later to include color that made clear reflection of their experiences with normal light. They set the base that led to the series of a book that has 132 reproductions indicating the vision for change of nature and the church at large. Dibbets also worked closely with Mondrian exploiting transparent openings and concentrating mostly on the changes of light in the interior depths. He remains sure and a wear of the characteristics of the idea and has confidence that it made tremendous changes in nature. The changes effected the different spaces and shapes which developed a sequence. They have a boost from a book of historical quotations that relates to Dutch pictorial or generally art. His views properly fit in the historical context. Currently, interior light is just more than the author’s book but it provides insights into pictorial art and also giving a good perspective on Dutch painting. The approach taken by Jan is conceptual, universal and personal. This is because the geometrical square on the wall was slowly taken by the window, the light from the sky and later on became to be the circular shape of the current church windows. It managed to set a stage for changing the earthly light to become Godly light. It is during the same period that the presence of individuals started increasing immediately after making corrections on the space perspectives. Additionally, exposure period, light and color have currently changed and he is using optical form of distortion through tilting windows in an outline, which is drawn on the surface that is coloured. The method has guarantee for the natural arrangement. In this case, it creates a tension that is time alienating and logical concurrently. The opposition that comes from artists that create and those are in competition with the creation will always become substantial and be a mysterious always (Schloeder, 1998). In this manner, Jan’s work relates to the Dutch nature, still life and the architectural painting. More so it is never a single-sided relationship. The forthcoming windows focus on heaven and earthly nature in the same way the ancient squares were formed on shadow walls or glass. The analysis gains a high rank of perception. The handling of color, space and light goes smoothly from cool concept of Saenredam and gets to the warmness of his current Vermeer who in turn provides motivation in his duty (Schloeder, 1998). Jan’s painting is very receptive to totalities like those of the Mediterranean lighting system. According to Gloria Moure, this specific rapprochement into Jan’s work is in itself kind of distinctive responsibility. The Barcelona windows are the main conclusion of which concludes the work of Jan Dibbets. The exhibitions that undertake and his biography in relation to the development of artistic styles have in themselves characters of constant struggling to get perfection. The diagram below indicates the development of initial windows through formation of geometrical shapes (Weaver, 2003). http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_low001199301_01/_low001199301ill179.gif Conclusion The use of light and shadow in prayer in architectural churches has been used as a means to enhance prayer in church. Although the church goes beyond the physical church, the physical building is necessary to make prayer more beautiful and an enriching experience. Artists have continuously developed church buildings to make the service more interesting and live. For instance, development of light into church issues is not very new in world of Architecture. It has taken scholars decades to come up with structures that can utilize natural to utilize it in praising the Lord our creator (Giles, 2004). Developers believe that after fusing light with Godliness, the next invention will be focusing on developing paradise with natural resources in the same way they managed to infuse light and Godliness. The light is directly associated with God and therefore once there is light it enhances the presence of God and that is what prayer is; being in the presence of God (Weaver, 2003). Bibliography Fletcher, B. & Cruickshank, D. 1996, Sir Banister Fletcher's a History of Architecture, Architectural Press, 20th edition Weaver, E B. 2003, A Well-Fashioned Image: Clothing and Costume in European Art, 1500– 1850. Chicago: The University of Chicago Schloeder, S. J. 1998, Architecture in Communion, San Francisco: Ignatius Press Giles, R. 2004. Uncommon Worship, Norwich: Canterbury Press Howard F.E. 2006, The mediaeval styles of the English Parish Church Batsford London Pevsner, N, 2002, The Buildings of England (series), Harmondsworth: Penguin 1951-1974 Read More