Nature of Order Webinar: Spirituality in architecture and phenomenological design processes in the work of Peter Zumthor and Christopher Alexander, Isabel Potoworowski
This will be presented on April 24, 2025 at 15:00 UTC by Isabel Potworowski.
1:1 model of the Bruder Klaus Chapel, composed of black plastic sanitary tubes and ropes, set up in the courtyard of Atelier Zumthor. Source: slideshow at the 2024 exhibition “Architectural Models from the Atelier Peter Zumthor” at the Werkraum Bregenzerwald. Courtesy Atelier Peter Zumthor.
Christopher Alexander and contemporary Swiss architect Peter Zumthor have both spoken of their work in terms of strengthening and connecting to the life and wholeness of a place, aspects that they have at times described in spiritual terms. Alexander elaborates on this spiritual dimension in Book 4 of The Nature of Order, The Luminous Ground, where he proposes that there is a relatedness between one’s self and the “eternal vastness” of the cosmos, or “luminous ground,” and that “living centres” in the built environment are a window onto this vastness, ultimately connecting us with God. Zumthor has spoken in A Feeling of History of the capacity of buildings and landscapes to connect us with the history of the lives that came before us, giving a sense of being part of larger historical and biological processes, which he also describes as an awareness of the “larger whole.” He speaks of the “sacred” qualities of places in which one can become aware of this connection on an emotional and intuitive level.
What implications does this spiritual dimension of the physical environment, understood as its potential to connect us with a greater whole, have for how we build? Five aspects emerge from the two architects’ approaches:
1. A way of observing place: Identifying qualities of the site that express a connection to a larger spatial or temporal whole, which can be strengthened through the built intervention.
2. A phenomenological design approach: Privileging observation and ‘deep’ feeling as a guide for making design decisions, affirming that our deepest feelings and intuitions are also the most shared.
3. Project intentions and experience before form: Starting the design process by articulating the intended experience, atmosphere, and relation to its place and purpose, from which the form will eventually emerge.
4. Representation and models: A phenomenological approach is based on first-person sensory experience, which in the design process is privileged by working with large-scale and full-scale on-side models.
5. Testing and construction: Ultimately, a spiritual dimension is manifest through how a building is materialized, a process involving prototyping to develop details, and continual adjustment.
Isabel Potworowski is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Cincinnati, where she teaches undergraduate design studio and drawing. She recently defended her PhD at Carleton University in Ottawa, titled “Discovering Spiritual Atmospheres: Representation practices in Atelier Zumthor’s process of design buildings that amplify spiritual atmospheres.” She completed her Bachelor’s in Architecture at McGill University, her professional Master’s in Architecture at TU Delft and obtained a Master’s in Architectural History and Theory at McGill. In the Netherlands, she worked at Barcode Architects, the International New Town Institute, and Mecanoo Architecten. Her research interests include the spiritual dimension of architecture, embodied and experiential qualities of space, the design process, and design pedagogy.