Circular Retreat
House of Modern Rituals: Rethinking the St. Dominicus church
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Abstract
This research explores how the St. Dominicus church in Utrecht can be revitalised with the help of contemporary spiritual values. As a result of secularisation and the shift from religion to spirituality, there is a noticeable increase in vacant church buildings. In this research, a design strategy is proposed that revises the original function in a way it can better accommodate the modern spiritual needs. Incorporating the results of different literature and analytic studies in spiritual architecture, this study demonstrates a way to create a design that accommodates
more spiritual experiences through architecture. It argues that these experiences can be evoked through architectural qualities that adhere to the bigger spiritual concepts of sensuality, humanity and sustainability.