The following Immersion Audit essay will be looking into the notions of immersion within Spiritual Places. The location that was explored was the St. Patrick’s Cathedral: Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, Situated at the Eastern Side of the Melbourne’s Central Business District. The determining factor of choosing this location was predominantly due to the richness in examining a Gothic Revival building transposed within a modern city environment, primarily in the hopes it would give me a broad variety in interpretation which other spaces may not be able to present. Throughout my adolescence I was brought up in a Catholic Salesian schooling environment, generally on a yearly basis, I was often found to be situated within these types of spaces. However during that time of being agnostic in belief, I was always searching for the meaning in the values that were presented to me. Therefore returning to this space was one of nostalgia and curiosity in unpacking some of the ideals which were left with me. This essay will argue into three particular understandings of how immersion can be achieved through situating oneself within these environments. The first of which being exploring the immersive experience through the Semiotic navigation of space, primarily drawing on Michel De Certeau’s ideas in the perception of signs and the value in the guided experience. Secondly I’d like to explore the architectural nuances within the Gothic / Gothic Revival spaces, and how situating oneself in these environments can invoke idiosyncratic immersive experiences. Finally exploring the situational Psychological effect of Spiritual places. By examining all of the stimuli presented to me within the space, transposed with the concepts aforementioned, a broader understanding of the true meaning of immersion can be achieved.
I’d like to open this essay with a much broader and conceptual description of the stimuli in question. Each will be explained in a linear fashion in which I experienced and took notice of them. The underpinning of certain stimuli will be digressed as I elaborate on various concepts throughout the piece. Initially before entering the Church you are presented with a bird insignia paved into the ground below, this gave me the strong impression that Iconography and Symbolism would be highly present as I prepared to enter the space.
Upon moving through the front of the building, you are presented with triad shaped arching door ways, coupled with black iron gates expressing some kind of grandeur. Consequently once inside the feeling of ‘Weight’ or ‘Heaviness’ fell over my body (attributing this predominantly to the richness, texture and size of the environment). Moreover the suggestion of moving from a Modern city urban environment into a Timeless and overtly Spiritual place may also have attributed. Once settled inside, my eyes were drawn to the contrast of the black and white patterned tiles on the floor, along to the roughly textured and rigid large pillars which were interspersed in a symmetrical manner throughout the building. The lines carved into the bottom up constructed pillars took up my eyes further upwards, past the large glowing triad shaped yellow windows emitting a kind of superficial warmth to the air to the peak of the roof. The rising feeling of directionality, structure and regimentation coupled with the size of the space, decreed a level of openness and invitation as I pressed forward towards the altar. I walked to the right hand side of the building, weaving under the large pipe organ which seemed to be haphazardly retrofitted into the space. Due to being elevated, a degree of darkness covered the space momentarily. However the shape of the structure and cordoned areas suggested movement for my cadenced experience whilst intermittently getting distracted by the clicks of tourist’s camera shutters.
The rear of the space was dedicated to feature the stained glass windows which were interspersed between various sections, the floor of each of these sections was either highly exuberant and regal displays of patterned tiles or reflective white marble surfaces. Consequently when walking on this style of surface one could inhibit feelings of groundedness and connection. The windows above showed the interactions between various holy figures, each window drew on similar colour schemes contrasted between primarily between vivid Reds and Blues, often highlighted by white or gold for potentially drawing the individual’s eye to the prominence of the ‘halo’ representations. Moving further around the rear of the building, gold highlights of 4-leaf style ‘clover’ shapes began me noticing the nuances of individual objects placed within the space. Whether being marble statues, candelabras, lecterns or oak pews. All of which we seemed to have a underlying reason of purpose and function within the space, whilst at the same time being either underutilized or overseen. I found this premise interesting as it seemed the space as a whole was dematerializing the purpose of immovable and singular objects. Following the continuous rounded route around the rear of the building I was met by the main row of pews that were facing the altar. Here I would decide to sit and try to gain an immersive experience within whilst remaining stationary within the space. Once seated, I was incredibly jarred and brought out of the experience by the discomfort of sitting in the pews. Contemplating that perhaps the lack of softness and uninviting nature of the pews were akin to having the spiritual practitioners become more reflective. Links of this discomfort brought up memories of nostalgia and familiarity, however holding the underneath of the seats I was met by a burning sensation running through my hands by seat-warmers. Most likely installed to allow some of the creature comforts on today’s modern environment to be transposed into a 19th century setting. Upon gathering myself, I started re-immersing within the small details of the space, the sunlight emanating from the side of the yellow windows highlighted levels of detail and craftsmanship in the gothic triangular style and repetition of shapes which weren’t as prevalent to me as I was moving around the space. Comparatively it also highlighted the staleness present in the recently introduced natural objects presented within the space, such as the flowers or the holy water in a large silver dish. Exploring such finite detail instilled feeling of timelessness and immovability. Timelessness in a sense of the architectural nuances and design transporting me to any period within the last 200+ years, also in the impression that time stood still within the space. Imagery which could aid in the feeling of solitude, reflection and calmness, incidentally further the feeling of transcendentality or spiritual connection. My experiences due to the task at hand, led to within forced levels perceptivity, however if one was truly dedicated to spiritual practice I can understand how the monumental yet static nature of the space would aid in immersion.
Upon being seated was the first time at which I became overtly aware of the sound of the space. There was a consistent shuffling movement of tourists feet around the space, however these footsteps only appeared to come into audibility once they were no more than 10 ft away. The resonance within the church was inherently deaded and to what felt as non-directional and flat. The notion of this I could attain to was the length of the church being much longer than the width coupled with the varied angles present in the roof. Blondy (2014) recognises that nature of “These proportions (within a Gothic style church) can be problematic and favour the presence of audible stationary waves in the lower frequencies.” The external sound objects were highly distinguishable from things such as; Trams, planes and whipper snippers, however anything present in the space immediately felt muffled and indecipherable. Any larger amounts of noise that was created would contain higher degrees of sibilance and reflectivity in them, therefore as impressive as the sound potentially could be, it is generally argued that when things such as praise music is introduced, historically it was shaped to suit the space rather than the other way around. (Blesser & Salter, 2009, pg. 92). There was no apparent degree of soundproofing presented within the space and very limited sound re-enforcement.
The nature of my immersive experience was a ‘journey’ being practiced at a level of casual strolling and noticing of the richly detailed sensorial engulfment (recognising these and analysing the level of significance or importance in the symbology). Certeau (2000) recognises that those who situate urban spaces are akin to not being self-aware, therefore once we are removed from the city environment, we can become much more aware of particular visual simulacrum. Actively removing myself from the urban environment inhibited a feeling of disjuncture once I entered the space. “The Raw material of this experiment are the walkers, ‘Wandersmänner’, whose bodies follow the cursives and strokes of an urban ‘text’ they write without reading. These practitioners employ spaces that are not self-aware; there knowledge of them is as blind that of one body for another, beloved, body.” (Certeau, 2000, pg. 102) Objectivity presented to me within the space through visual elements consisting of marble statues, candelabras, lecterns or oak pews, windows etc (anything that held symbology or presented meaning) were in there nature static and to what seemed immovable. It is suggested that objects within spiritual spaces have “nothing hidden, occult or mysterious” (Ward, 2001) and it is up to the person to find meaning within them. This is also displayed in that “one who sees is an autonomous unit, a consciousness, a cogito, who in thinking makes/passes judgment” (Ward, 2001) This transparency of the ‘material’ is crucial within the church in order to shape the space as doxological rather than institutional to help the individual achieve transcendentally.
The manner at which the space was constructed and the materials used was also key to the level of immersion one has with the space. Looking at Gothic Revival Architecture, the richness in the details presented are defined as “the desire to honor or please someone else by the costliness of sacrifice”. (Ruskin cited by Nelson, 2006, pg. 43) that is not sparing in any detail or cost associated with building the structure. Ruskin (1989) argues that often the higher quality of material is sourced in order to closely identify the space as an augmentation of ‘God Himself’. This can be seen as a direct juxtaposition to conceptions of architecture within a modern setting “which desires to produce the largest results at the least cost.” (Ruskin, 1989, pg. 11) This notion could potentially be linked back to Certeau’s understanding of movement through various spaces, and why there was an underlying feeling of timelessness present. Also to which the degree of objects such as marble, stone, heavy oak, gold, silver were used to create different types of ornamentation was testament to the connection between the highest level of craftsmanship and the thoughts that were provoked when viewing them. (Ruskin in Nelson, 2006) The instilled feeling of timelessness and immovability whilst sitting down was one of the main points of intrigue whilst auditing the space at hand. Essawy, S.S., Kamel & Elsawy, M.S (2014) define timelessness in architecture as; “When it has a common tie to the core basics of the quality of life, its soul and its spiritual vision, rather than merely becoming a form of religious representations.” (Essawy, Kamel & Elsawy, M.S, 2014, pg. 134) Psychological feelings of calmness and solitude invoked by the space but the inability to tie it down to one particular object or phenomenon was perplexing but interesting to my overall experience of immersion. Through research applications of situating subjects within spiritual places (temples within Cairo), Essawy, Kamel & Elsawy (2014) attained that there were incremental shifts of Alpha waves (brain alertness) and the decremental shifts in Beta/Theta waves (brain relaxation) which led to a degree of “relaxed awareness” (Essawy, Kamel & Elsawy, M.S, 2014, pg. 140) It is to this assumption, immersion in itself is inhibited by the St. Patrick’s Cathedral through emitting forms of ‘relaxed awareness’ by combining; the disjuncture of moving away from the modern urban space, richness in the material detail within the space and overall the psychological impact of the individual through the perception of timelessness in space.
(2025 Words)
References
Blesser, B. & Salter, L.R 2009, Spaces Speak, Are You Listening?: Experiencing Aural Architecture, The MIT Press, Cambridge, UK
Blondy, K 2014, Reverberation and church acoustics, Musicintech Blog, <http://musitechnic.com/en/reverberation-and-church-acoustics/>
Certeau, M.D 2000, The Certeau reader, eds. Ward, G, Blackwell, Oxford, UK
Essawy, S.S., Kamel, B. & Elsawy, M.S., 2014, Timeless buildings and the human brain: The effect of spiritual spaces on human brain waves. Archnet-IJAR, vol. 8, no.1, pp.133–142
Nelson, L 2006, American sanctuary. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN
Ruskin, J 1989, The seven lamps of architecture, Dover Publications, New York, NY
Ward, G 2001, Michel de Certeau’s “Spiritual Spaces”, South Atlantic Quarterly, vol. 100, no. 2, pp.501–517
Stimuli;
Tangible
Oak
Rising
Directional
Arching
Steel
Roughness
Pattern
Triad
Symmetry
Repetition
Smooth
Darkness
Tourist
Gold
Marble
Reflections
Windows;
Blue and Red
White and Gold
Candles
Flame
Clover
Sets of 4
Stale
Flowers
Silver
Water
Sunlight/Sunshine
Craft
Detail
Triangular
Highlights
Seat Warmers
Natural
Monumental
Shuffling (Feet)
External
Reverberation
Planes
Trams
Whippersnipper
Quiet
Geometric
Reflection
Felt/Perceived
Weight
Iconography
Symbolism
Warmth
Open
Rigitity
Regementen
Adjucture
Suggested movement
Regality
Interspersed
Contrast
Prominence
Superficial
Importance
Immovable
Singular
Heaviness
Drawing/Welcoming
Rounded
Continuous
Inviting
Softness
Strategic
Uncomfortable
Burning
Familiarity
Story
Distractions
Calmness
Timelessness
Solitude
Discrete
Prayer
Reflection
Transcendental
Forced
Perceptivity
Juxtapositions
Static
Sustain
Length
Dead
Flat
Siblinance
Movement
Undirectional
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