Tracing The Representations Of Light In The Contemporary Ch urch Architecture

Religious architecture has been an important facility for educating people about the beliefs that were prevalent in a certain location at a particular period. The church serves as the centre of worship for Christians. For many years church design seemed to have remained constant, but now its design languages have been changed radically. Contemporary churches have a greater emphasis on community, global issues, and a more style of delivering the word of God. Volume, ornament, status, materials, texture, and light are used in the architecture of church to provoke the spiritual feeling. Under the Onslaught of digital trends of architecture and the rise of new building construction technology, the meaning of light representation in church became mostly disappeared. The main aim of this paper is to trace the representation of light in contemporary church architecture as a catalyst to enrich spiritual value. To achieve this aim, the paper followed a scientific methodology, starting with a literature review defining the meaning of contemporary church, its value, and its relation to the representation of light. To collect this data, the author depended on desk research and reviewed previous readings to highlight the examples that put the lighting factor at the first place in contemporary church. A deep analysis of three case studies were conducted, based on observations, photos, and documentation. This paper ends with proposing several recommendations to architects. One of them is playing by openings’ proportions, dimensions, materials, and positions may enrich the spiritual state of the user through creating meaningful light.