Natural Light as an Element to Create Sacred Environment in Churches Case Study: Santo Kristoforus Catholic Church, Jakarta

Abstract

There was cases in November 2011 where catholic church architecture design around the world had deviation. The deviation mentioned was the loss of holy space in catholic church architecture due to inappropriate design according to the correct layout. This showed that sacred holy space is important in catholic church architecture. Based on the statement above, natural lighting is important to be discussed as a problem in a building architectural design. The methodology of this research is; first, Natural lighting enters less on the altar compared to audio-visual buffer on the seating area; second, Altar as the center of sacred value of the church; third, Quite and silent environment of the church added to the sacred impression. The conclusion in this study is Natural lighting enters less on the altar compared to audio-visual buffer on the seating area to create sacred environment has not been achieved by Kristoforus Church, Altar as the center of sacred value also not yet achieved because natural lighting intensity that spreads to all parts of the room, Silent and quiet environment that added to the sacred environment has also not been achieved by Kristoforus Church because the proportion of light on the altar and audio-visual buffer is similar. The finding of this study is the natural lighting filter on altar area and audiovisual buffer on the seating area affect sacred environment in church, thus the lighting on altar area should be brighter and more dominant than other areas