Space and Worshipping: Space Syntax Analyses of a Mosque, a Basilica, a Buddhist Temple, and a Hindu Temple

Religious buildings represent spatial environments where belief systems, worship practices, and social interactions are supported by spatial configurations. This study aims to examine the relationship between spatial configuration and worship practices in four religious buildings situated within four distinct religious and cultural traditions—Sunni Islam, Roman Catholic Christianity, Tibetan Buddhism, and Balinese Hinduism—represented by the Emir Abdelkader Mosque, Sagrada Família Basilica, Jokhang Temple, and Besakih Temple. The research focuses on how the spatial organisation and the location of functions respond to or support specific ritual requirements and forms of worship. Ritual practices were identified through field observations and a review of the literature, while spatial configurations were analysed using Visual Graph, Through-Vision, All-lines, Agent-based Modelling in DepthmapX (version 0.8.0), and justified graph analyses in A-Graph software (version 2005). The comparative analysis of the four case studies shows that spatial configurations are closely related to documented ritual practices and cultural contexts, while also exhibiting case-specific organisational structures. The four buildings exhibit different hierarchical and topological organisations, associated with differences in ritual sequences, spatial accessibility, and the organisation of worship-related spaces. The results also indicate that spaces accommodating less formally regulated social activities can occupy important syntactic positions within their respective spatial systems, highlighting the coexistence of formal ritual functions and informal social interactions. The findings are interpreted as case-specific and exploratory, rather than as general representations of the four religious traditions.