a+u 654: Reinterpretations of Sacredness / Generative AI within Architecture uses the concept of sacred space as a lens to examine how light, shadow, materiality, and scale construct meaning in architecture — then tests those ideas against the emerging realities of generative AI.
About This Book
This March issue of a+u pursues a pointed question: what constitutes sacred space in architecture, and does that quality survive translation into the age of artificial intelligence? Moving between religious buildings — a Swiss church, a Bangladeshi mosque — and 14 secular projects from architects including Luis Barragán, Álvaro Siza, and Anne Holtrop, the issue builds a vocabulary of awe, serenity, and material presence. Guest editor Erwin Viray then introduces generative AI not as spectacle but as a genuine provocation: a tool that forces designers to confront inherited assumptions about architectural space and human sensibility. The result is a rare issue that holds the spiritual and the computational in productive tension.
Key Features
- 168 pages of architectural photography, project documentation, and critical essays on sacred and secular space
- Guest edited by Erwin Viray
- Featured projects include Saint Pius Church (Switzerland), Bait Ur Rouf Mosque (Bangladesh), Luis Barragán's Barragán House, Álvaro Siza's Tidal Pools of Leça da Palmeira, and Anne Holtrop's Pearl Museum
- Published by Shinkenchiku-sha
What You'll Discover
- How light, shadow, and material weight construct the psychological and spatial conditions of sacredness across different religious traditions and geographies
- The way 14 non-religious projects — from a private house to a tidal pool complex — translate feelings of awe and serenity into everyday architectural experience
- How generative AI tools can both illuminate possible directions for architectural design and challenge deeply held human sensibilities about space
- The editorial proposition that sacred space is not exclusive to religion — and what that means for contemporary architectural practice
About the Author
Erwin Viray serves as guest editor for this issue, structuring its inquiry around the theme of sacred space. He introduces and contextualises the application of generative AI tools within architectural design discourse.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 168
- Dimensions: 220 x 290 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9784900213135
- Publisher: Shinkenchiku-sha
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects and designers engaging with questions of atmosphere and meaning in space, researchers exploring AI's role in design thinking, and anyone tracing the boundaries between the spiritual and the spatial in contemporary architecture.