This beautiful temple of light creates a subliminal healing effect for distraught visitors as soon as they enter its doors.
Goodness knows we could use a little healing. Japanese residents are faced with a potential nuclear meltdown, the consequences of which are almost too horrible to imagine. Libyans are experiencing untold suffering as one man struggles to hold on to power, and natural disasters are taking an increasingly high toll everywhere. To understand such seeming senselessness, human beings have historically looked to their gods. But Dodeca Architects, South African designers of the Temple Of Light encourage us to seek our solace elsewhere, from the source of all things. From Nature.
Churches, temples, mosques, and other religious buildings are central to a community’s consciousness. This is where people go to seek communion with one another and with a higher power. Similarly, Dodeca’s Temple of Light inspires peace and serenity from the onset.
The building comprises two intersecting circles, a design inspired by sacred geometrical principles. (Called the Vesica Pisces, this intersection of circles is found in many medieval structures.) The space inside balances the space outside, creating a fluidity that blends with the natural surroundings.
Roof lights are colored to interact with stained glass windows, creating a subliminal healing effect that soothes distraught visitors. The building will be built with concrete, chosen for its timelessness and to form a patina that will in time “emit a very sacred permanence,” according to the architects.
If you don’t have a temple of light to go to during these distressing times, why not take a walk in the forest, revel in the changing seasons, and send out your own light to all the people who are suffering today.
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Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
