A winning team
S.F. COUPLE WIN INTERNATIONAL CONTEST FOR INCLUSIVE `SACRED SPACE' DESIGN
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...on/8229688.htm
By Robin Evans
Mercury News
Vivek Anand knows how it feels to be different. He is a Hindu from India, living in the largely Christian United States. And he is gay in a world that has difficulty not just with his orientation but also with the notion that he and his partner could experience the same degree of love and commitment as a man and a woman.
So when Anand sat down in December to sketch a ``sacred space'' that would welcome everyone, he knew what he was looking for. ``I wanted to get into what resonated with people while not getting anyone to feel this was exclusionary or specific to any one religion,'' said Anand, 35, a San Francisco architect.
What he created with the help of his partner -- marionette artist Philip Sebastian, 40 -- resonated with the jury of the Interfaith Sacred Space International Design Competition. It was one of four winners, among more than 150 entries from 17 countries.
``It's really something that we won that award on the same weekend all those same-sex marriages were taking place'' in San Francisco, Sebastian said. ``If that's not a sign of some spirit working for us, what is?''
Though there are no plans for the winning designs to be built, they are getting plenty of recognition. The winners and seven honorable mentions will be exhibited at the Parliament of the World's Religions meeting this summer in Barcelona, Spain. Some 15,000 people are expected.
Anand and Sebastian's design includes an underground cave, a passageway, a theater and a sanctuary. Scattered among them are a large tree, a garden, a piazza, a wooded labyrinth, a ``stations'' wall, and a river with a lotus pond and two bridges. Overarching much of the space is a tent, ``reminiscent of the desert religions,'' Sebastian said.
``It's a flowing design. I want people to wander through the whole thing,'' Anand said. ``One of the reasons I didn't do one building is, that would just look like a beautiful church. For someone who's not Christian, it would still say `church.' ''
The competition's goal was to design a place where people could express their own faiths and come together with followers of other religions.
``It is providing an opportunity for engagement,'' Anand said. ``You can't be condescending toward religions, just like you can't be condescending of humans.''
That's a lesson Anand learned early.
His father was a North Punjabi Hindu, his mother a Syrian Christian who converted to Hinduism. But they always embraced many religions.
Their Bombay home altar had representations of Allah, Krishna and the Buddha. One of Anand's favorite childhood books was an illustrated Bible, a gift from nuns at an orphanage his father, a doctor, visited regularly.
His parents later got involved with an interfaith anti-nuclear-proliferation group whose retreat center had glass on all sides, places to stay overnight and a farm. In the large auditorium, people sat on a mat on the floor, getting up one at a time to say a prayer. One might say a Hindu prayer, the next a Christian one.
That heritage can be seen in the eclectic decor of Anand and Sebastian's San Francisco studio apartment, and in their altar. It is adorned with pictures of Hindu gods, a Sufi amulet, a Buddha wheel of dharma and a picture of Jesus looking up at Durga, the Indian mother goddess.
Sebastian practices Taoism and is learning about Hinduism. Its traditional processions remind him of his baptismal Roman Catholicism.
The common ground of spirituality is what inspired their design. Each element harks back to archetypes and symbols that can serve almost any religion.
Pagans, American Indians or members of other religions that connect with the Earth and mankind's beginnings can find symbolism and sanctuary in the large, round cavern, with natural illumination from a skylight. Smaller side chambers, evocative of monks' cells, could be suitable for individual prayer, Buddhist meditation or Catholic confession. Similarly, niches in the horn-shaped passage could be used by individuals or small groups.
Outdoor spaces, the theater or the piazza could accommodate Muslim prayer or ritual dances. The Tree of Knowledge would make a pleasant place for Sunday school instruction or a Jewish wedding. River water can be used in religious rituals, serve as a symbol for life and replenishment, or just be a place for children to play.
``Enjoyment is part of the interaction with the sacred,'' Anand said. ``It's not just a solemn affair.''
SACRED SPACE COMPETITION
To see photos of the winning entries and honorable mentions, visit
www.pipsqueak.com/competition.
Competition sponsors are the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago and the United Religions Initiative, San Francisco, the nation's two largest interfaith organizations; the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects; the Interfaith Center of the Presidio; and EURIMA (Expressing the United Religions Initiative in Music and the Arts). For more information about URI, see
www.uri.org. For the council, see
www.cpwr.org.
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