A sacred place for the veneration of knowledge: Architecture - The intersecting edge between knowledge, its veneration and the sacred

Abstract

Throughout the ages the search for knowledge has been a part of humankind’s inherent nature whereby knowledge fulfils our desire to find meaning in our respective lives. Whether from prehistoric man or from Adam and Eve, to Socrates, to Sir Francis Beacon, to Einstein, to You and me today, we all have and do strive for knowledge as a result of various important attributes that humankind has discovered and attained throughout its pursuit of knowledge - attributes such as personal and cultural growth, skills development, personal enlightenment, ‘power gain’, ‘striving for success’ and that knowledge ultimately has a value. These mentioned attributes of knowledge are collectively sacred as they are revered due to the importance they hold for humankind and directly elevate all knowledge to the idea of being sacred - an informal sacred. Architecture and knowledge (and the attributes of knowledge) have always been linked. This linkage can be seen through architecture’s facilitated spaces of knowledge production and information transferarchitectural institutions such as the University and Library. In light of these facilitated spaces there is room for architecture to expand on them and express a space that embodies knowledge in its entirety as well as expresses knowledge’s revered status in respect of a sacred importance to humankind. This type of architectural space would exist as “a sacred place for the veneration of knowledge” in acting as a centre for and of knowledge and for and of information transfer while connected to notions of what people consider the scared (the informal sacred).