Holy Land: a community's expression of faith; linking archetype, landscape and meaning

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2021

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Gwebu, Nomonde

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Abstract

The project is centered on the emigration of a Christian community, Impact for Christ Ministries (IFCM) from a 4000m2 retro-fitted factory in the Johannesburg CBD to a 121 hectare site in the rural rolling hills of Kromdraai, Mogale City. The world view of the community has (to a hindered extent, due to physical constraints) shaped the culture, daily lives and practices of IFCM members at the Ministry, but also within their personal daily lives. The approach of the study is firstly to provide detailed explanation of the IFCM world view; as an expression of Judeo-Christianity. The core of the belief system will be explained through an analysis of the program of the community. Assuming one has taken the time to learn and understand the Judeo-Christian faith, agrees with it, and wants to follow it at IFCM, what happens next? What is required from this individual? IFCM proposes that the individual is required to undergo a journey that begins with a choice to change their personal world view or existential belief. The term “meaning” is used in this study as the fundamental or existential reason that things and beings are (Heidegger, 1953). To change one’s perspective of reality to a Judeo-Christian world view is to exchange one’s held belief about the meaning, origin and purpose of life, for the belief that meaning is exhaustively determined by the God of the Holy Bible. After this choice has been made, the journey becomes psychological and consists of “rewiring the mind” (Banda, Rewiring the Mind, 2020) to align with the existential proposition of the Holy Bible; or to what the Holy Bible describes as the meaning and nature of existing. This psychological journey has physical space requirements in order to be lived out. The project uses the existential and the psychological to determine the design of the physical space. The phenomenological device of archetype is used to evoke the emotion; more specifically, the inner posture, associated with each step of the psychological journey (Mugerauer, 1985) and express it architecturally. The project proposes an archetype dictionary as a means to link physical form making to the abstract (in that it is not directly quantifiable in physical terms) concept that informs the desired user experience. Light, texture and sound are additional devices that shape specific shared experiences. Finally, analysis of the Holy Land, as a landscape, provides important information on the climate and topography of the site and region. Along with this empirical data, psychological insights are explored, as the archetype dictionary is applied to understanding the user experience of the landscape, prior to any intervention. The project aims at expressing the program as a set of shared experiences; using analysis of the landscape to further contextualize the building both physically and experientially. The value of designing the Holy Land as a set of shared experiences is the individual’s experience of synergy between the psychological posture each activity requires, and a physical space that resonates with, and possibly enhances, that posture

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A design project submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture (Professional) July 2021

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