Prayer house on Petriplatz, Berlin, competition 2012
Transcendence and spirituality as overriding experiences can be enhanced beyond sensory perception by light as a design element. The interplay of daylight and artificial light with materiality, haptics, light direction and light color characterizes this spirituality, which cannot be explained rationally or academically. The unifying element of the three major monotheistic world religions lies in the dignity of the simple rooms. In a heterogeneous urban environment, characterized by traffic noise, anonymous lack of scale and a lack of identity, the Prayer and Teaching House is deliberately designed as introverted architecture with reduced, valuable materials and sparing openings to the outside. Above the archaeological excavation site, on a limited footprint at a historically significant location, an architecture organized in layers develops: the three monotheistic world religions are offered a spatial structure with equal distribution, which is organized via the foyer and administration on the first floor, the central meeting room and café on the second floor and the three houses of prayer and galleries on parts of the second floor. This compact "room within a room" concept zones the plinth zone, an all-encompassing shell and cubic prayer rooms offset in height in different forms with the same materiality.
House of Prayer and Learning on Petriplatz, Berlin, Competition 2012
Transcendence and spirituality as higher-level experiences can be reinforced beyond sensuous experience by means of light as a design element. The interaction of daylight and artificial light with materiality, haptics, lighting and light colour characterizes this spirituality, which is not rationally or academically explainable. In the dignity of the simple rooms lies the connecting element of the three great monotheistic world religions. In a heterogeneous urban environment, stamped by traffic noise and anonymous proportionality as well as a lack of identity, the House of Prayer and Learning is consciously conceived as introverted architecture with reduced, valuable materiality and small openings to the exterior. Above the archaeological excavation site, on restricted ground at a historically important place, architecture develops in organized shifts and layers: a spatial structure is being offered on a parity basis to the three monotheistic world religions. It has a foyer and the administration on the ground floor, the central meeting room and cafe on the first floor, and the three prayer areas and galleries in parts of the second floor. This compact "room-in-room" concept divides a base zone, an allembracing sheath and cube-shaped prayer rooms offset in height and in a variety of shapes with the same materiality.