ARCHITECTURE AND

THE COSMOS
TARROZA, Ma. Abigail D.C.
ARCHITECTURE and the COSMOS

 Cosmos = perfection, therefore it is ideal to be imitated

on earth
 Incorporation of these ideals into the choosing of the
location for a sacred site, its design and structural
elements

Ceiling of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, Temple of

Heaven, Beijing, China, 1420 A.D.
 Mandala

 Used in rituals and meditation

 Hindu, Buddhist, Jain

Borobodur, Java
Borobodur, Java
 CELESTIAL ALIGNMENT

 The use of the movement and the position of the

constellations and the visible planets to plan the location
and the architecture of a religious site/building
 the proximity to a religious site

 direction of nearest religious site

 COSMIC PILLARS

 Vertical axes linking heaven and earth

 Thrusting upward, representative of the separation of the

heavens and the earth
 Natural, man-made,
 COSMIC PILLARS

 Mountains

 Totem poles

 Lingam

 Lotus stalk

 Spires, pinnacles
Pacific-Northwest
Native American
totem pole
Nepalese stone
lingam, c. 900-100
A.D., on display at
the Asian Art
Museum, San
Francisco,
California.
Gothic spire of the Ulm
Cathedral
 DWELLINGS OF THE
GODS
 Shrines

 Containing relics or other objects of veneration

 “capturing” a divine presence

 Where gods are best “encountered”

 CHOOSING A SITE

 Usual sites are intrinsically auspicious locations, places

where the gods are thought to manifest, located by forms
of divination
 Mountain-tops, springs, etc.

 Made sacred by events having occurred there

 Achieved by carrying out certain rites
 Stages of an important person’s life
Mahabodhi Temple at
Bodh Gaya, India.
2nd century.
 THE MYTHICAL
DIMENSION
 Myths as means by which we interpret images, finding
out the underlying meanings of certain structural
characteristics
 Buildings can have structural elements that have a
connotations
Photograph of a kiva at Pueblo Bonito
 Mayan Ball Courts

 Used for acting out myths in remembrance of their gods

 Often played for sport, though also held ceremoniously

 Rubber ball passed back and forth with any part of the
players’ bodies except the hands; the ball was not allowed
to touch the ground
 Goal – to pass the ball through a stone hoop
Mayan ball-court in Cancun, Mexico
Mayan ball-court at
Chichen Itza
 BODY, PLAN AND
PROPORTION

 The human body as basis for architectural design

 Sites are named and function like some of the parts of the
human body
 Parts of the human body itself as symbols
 THE SACRED HOME

 Traditional cultures have little or no distinction between

the sacred and the secular
 Imitative of the human body, the cosmos, and animals
wherein parts of the home have given bodily functions
 THE SACRED MEETING
PLACE
 A structure where the community meets

 Creates and denies at the same time

 Meeting-houses, most times used by only the males

 PROCESSION AND
PILGRIMAGE
 Buildings are meeting-points between the earthly and the
divine
 Re-enacting sacred events, moving towards sources of
power, creating “corridors of sacredness”
 Circumambulation

 Architecture of destination reflects purpose of pilgrimage

Church of the Bom Jesus, Portugal
Ruwamveli Dagoba, Anuradhapura, Sri Langka.
 The Kaaba, Mecca

 Pilgrimage – at least once in a believer’s lifetime to

Mecca during hajj
 Believed to be where the prophet Muhammad received
God’s Law
 Located in Saudi Arabia

 Kaaba – building made of dark grey stone, covered with a

cloth embroidered by calligraphy
 MEGALITHIC
MONUMENTS
 Simple types of building – large stones; sometimes carved

 Burial chambers, calendars, gravestones, landmarks

Carnac Stones, France