SCULPTURAL ARTIFACT. A Gestural Reading of the Atmospheres of Sacral Space

Abstract This article explores a pedagogical approach of using sculptural artifacts as a practical tool to explore the ineffable but powerfully evocative atmospheres found within sacral architectures. However affective these spatial experiences may seem; in architectural pedagogy we struggle to speak of their nature and nuance, since they resist the mediums through which architectural discourse typically circulates. The making of sculptural forms allows undergraduate students to gesture to aspects of the atmosphere. An extended body schema established by the making process facilitates an embodied understanding of the atmospheric qualities. Object Oriented Ontology (OOO) provides a useful theoretical underpinning as a way to understand the students′ interactions, relationships between the sculptural artifacts, the processes of making and the atmospheres created. Through these processes, students become aware of, feel, engage, articulate and express the nuances and qualities of sacral architectural atmospheres.