From the Outer Realm...
...We venture towards the Inner Realm of the sacred, towards the depth of our being as well as towards the physical inner sanctuary of the holy temple.
AT THE PERIMETER
- Macro [map of campus]
- Street entry at lower elevation
- Entry from outside world (dominated by secular laws & thinking)
- Path/journey
- Upwards
- Winding
- Approach brings one to the main building entrance from an angle, not straight forward nor axially
- Hellenistic approach to buildings to emphasize scale changes, shifting of proportions this makes the experience more glorious
- Street entry at lower elevation
- Sub-macro
- Plan of voids vs. usable space
- Visitor is pulled into courtyard (center: acknowledgement of life in seminary)
- Interrelation & function of spaces
- Cardinal relationship: Aspects in opposition or tension
- 4 surrounding buildings at cardinal directions
- Courtyard, center
- Courtyard, atrium (upper chambers of the heart)
- Worship vs. Residence
- Spiritual vs. Human
- Administration vs. Classrooms
- Pastoral vs. Intellectual
- Tension in opposites & in adjacency
- Cardinal relationship: Aspects in opposition or tension
ENTRANCE
Main building entry
- Front steps
- From the driveway which is a reminder of the road prior to entering the grounds: the outside world
- Climbing up to reach the transcendent- Mount Olympus
- Temples up in mountains- Delphi
- Work & effort needed for approach
- From the driveway which is a reminder of the road prior to entering the grounds: the outside world
- Giant doors
- Entry vestibule [acts as narthex: giant fennel or scourge - Latin]
- Narthex
- Place for the penitents not yet full members
- Initiation rites like baptism
- Narthex
- Surrounded by portico
- Columns: 40 pairs
- Pairs: duality of man
- Nature vs. Divine Image
- Signifies state of being in a dessert (40 years, Israelites; 40 days, Jesus)
- Purification = formation within seminary life
- Pairs: duality of man
- Roofed/protection from the elements
- Columns: 40 pairs
- Transitional space
- A reminder that seminarians are no longer lay people in a sense but are not yet ordained either.
- Entrances to all 4 directions, leading into shelter (of different functions: 4 pillars)
- Well centerpiece
- Eight columns
- Although, this piece signifies the life seminarians bring into St. John’s prior to entering, the columns nonetheless points up to Heaven, telling us that God has placed within us all, the interior call to Himself.
- Steps, raising the centerpiece
- Pagan reliefs on well
- Symbolic: water source of life
- Well structured geometry
- Jardin de la Palais, Versailles
- Taj Mahal
- Imperialism architecture: Man’s imposition on nature
- Eight columns
WITHIN
Main Chapel
- Exterior design
- Tallest structure: calls attention to itself
- Tower takes our gaze up, heavenly
- Entry from garden: 3 arches of passage (Trinity)
- Each supported by twin columns: Dual nature of Christ
- Entry doorway
- Low lintel above threshold in comparison to other church entryways: humility
- Reliefs of flora: nature, to remind us of finding the divine in Creation
- Tallest structure: calls attention to itself
- Interior experience
- Relief above main entry doors
- North facing entry wall
- Division/hierarchy of elements
- Structural support system expressed in technological order = God’s hand in His people’s lives predating the time of Jesus’ incarnate life
- Post & Lintel Gothic arches
- Structural support system expressed in technological order = God’s hand in His people’s lives predating the time of Jesus’ incarnate life
- Numbers
- Division/hierarchy of elements
- Organ pipes near the entrance
- Call of God at the beginning of processing into the sacred.
- Facing pews
- Reminiscent of the blessings and curses on Mounts Ebal and Gerizim
- Although some of the Psalms in the Hours have omitted do to their verses of curses, we are nevertheless reminded of the tormented cries of Israel to the Lord
- Reminiscent of the blessings and curses on Mounts Ebal and Gerizim
- East wall
- clerestory
- West wall
- clerestory
- Stained glass windows
- Reflection of Gothic expression
- Towards the heavens
- Depiction/story telling
- Educational in the synthesis of technology + function (giving light to the space to emphasize divine illumination to the faithful)
- Reflection of Gothic expression
- Sanctuary
- The altar was clearly moved towards a more central position of the chapel
- Lower & smaller in size
- Material used is wood
- Square from a rectangle
- Location of tabernacle is moved
- Replaced by crucifix
- Reliefs
- The altar was clearly moved towards a more central position of the chapel
- Ceiling
- Symbolism
- Rafters
- Number
- Material: wood (technology)
- Relief above main entry doors