The Crystal Cathedral, Garden Grove - Essay Example

Part 6 The Crystal Cathedral, Garden Grove The Crystal Cathedral located in Garden Grove in California was completed in different phases and the main sanctuary was opened for services in 1980. The present cathedral building in the park is designed by American architects Philip Johnson along with John Burgee. During the later development, the building was originally planned to be set in the center of the park-like environment of a site having an area of around forty acre but presently the building is surrounded all around by parking lot. The cathedral building is made of steel and glass. It rises up in the centre of the park and has around 10,000 pieces of tempered silver-colored glass windows encased in a network of white steel trusses. The interiors of the cathedral can allow a seating congregation of nearly 3,000 people. If required, the portions of the exterior walls open up which allow additional members to remain in their cars while viewing the worship service in the insides. The glass used on the external surface is reflective. It allows only 8 per cent of light and heat to penetrate to the insides. The building happens to be the world's first all-glass church. Image 1: the outside view of the Crystal Cathedral showing the glazed glass of the wall The Architectural Design The plan comprises of the basic elements of a typical church in a shape of a four pointed star some 460ft by 200ft that reaches up to 128ft at its apex. Its height is even bigger than that of Notre Dame in Paris. The church complex is designed by American architect Philip Johnson and John Burgee. The building is huge in scale, and its all of its walls are clad by mirrored glass to the outside over a steel lattice structure. It has a symmetrical plan and an asymmetrical section. The crystalline shaped and glass-covered steel lattice frames have been used to give the building its present structure and form. In the floor plan of the church, the nave has been squished to pull out the transept. The idea behind doing this was to get the public closer to the performances and the alter place to have a better view of the activities. On further simplification of this geometry, this form has eventually given rise to the form of a star in its plan, with free-standing balconies in three points and the chancel in the fourth corner. The glass hung on the steel lattice frames gives an effect of a non-massive building. On the outsides the mirrored glass makes an entirely mirrored building with only around one tenth of sunlight entering the insides of the building. The construction with a triodetic steel frame helps in venting the hotter air to the outside from its top and it functions as a gigantic chimney. This provides natural cooling the interiors as cool air enters from the lower openings. Image 2: the aerial view of the Crystal Cathedral in the park, note its star shaped plan Made almost entirely of glass and a framework of steel, the cathedral is having an angular, mirror-like exterior, a transparent sun-lit interior, a giant television screen, and an altar place made out of marble. The walls and roof are clad in the mirrored glass over a structure of space frame and it helps in attaining passive solar heating in small proportions. The openable strips of the ventilating windows also help in attaining wind cooling. This is needed as the building is located in suburban area of Garden Grove having a climate of mild desert. The apex at the top is made with the help of triodetic steel frame that act as a chimney to carry out wind movements and provide natural cooling. The glass, being reflective by its characteristics, allows only eight per cent of light and heat to penetrate to the insides. The supporting structure is a triodetic steel frame. It works as a giant chimney and allows heat to rise out of the building and preventing a greenhouse effect. The cathedral has 10,000 panes of reflective glass, which allows only 8% of outside light into the church. This gives the interior a sub watery appearance. The audio services, which are a very important part of the cathedral, have been specially designed to work in accordance with the acoustical properties of the interiors as the glass box like structure is prone to echoes. Image 3: The column free interiors of the church, note the space frame clad with glass to form the wall and roof The Great Mosque of Cordoba The great mosque of Cordoba which was originally constructed in the eighth and tenth century is by origin a Moorish mosque. On the same site, previously existed a Roman temple and later Visigothic church. Cordoba's great mosque was noted as Europe's largest and most beautiful Muslim holy building before its conversion into a Christian church in 1236 CE. The mosque had also been a place of religious learning where Muslim scholars would pass on their knowledge to other Islamic students. It was unique by its style as it represented a combination of many types of architectural styles like the gothic style and the Syrian style of Islamic buildings. The building belongs to a period when the religion of Islam was comparatively new to the world in comparison to other religions like Judaism and Christianity. Therefore the building attempted to search a style for the Islamic architecture and establish and identity for Islam. In spite of its construction in different phases for almost two centuries, the building does not show visible difference in construction. However, it is the style of construction that reveals the difference in the period when it was built. Otherwise it displays a unity and harmony as if it were built by a single person at a single time. The building has many elements belonging to various different periods and, as a whole, was subjected from the late 8th to the late 10th century to a total of five extensions, one merging with another with no apparent break line. Image 4: An aerial photograph of the complex of the 'Great Mosque of Cordoba' The Architectural Design The mosque's hypostyle plan, consisting of a rectangular prayer hall and an enclosed courtyard, followed a tradition established in the Umayyad and Abbasid mosques of Syria and Iraq. Many of its part are extension that has been designed in the style of the original building. The renovations and additions done in the tenth century, display the imitation of many colorist effects of the Syrian Umayyad architecture. One can find the combined elements of gothic cathedral in the mosque. It measures about 190 by 140 meters and takes up a significant portion of the courtyard. Between 833-52, during the reign of Abd-al Rahman, the original hall was much smaller than the current one. The later expansion in the tenth century enlarged the size of mosque, the walls and other elements were made with intricate details. Another modification was the separate demarcation of the Maqsura from the general area. The dramatic articulation of the interior of the prayer hall was very good in its quality. The system of columns supporting double arcades of piers and arches with alternating red and white voussoirs is an unusual treatment that, structurally, combined striking visual effect with the practical advantage of providing greater height within the hall. Such alternating red and white voussoirs are associated with Umayyad monuments such as the Great Mosque of Damascus and the Dome of the Rock. Their use in the Great Mosque of Cordoba makes interesting visual combinations. Image 5: the plan of the mosque complex with all the extensions, note the covered space with dotted columns and the courtyard on the right. The Maqsura contains interesting visual elements of architecture. It is a prayer space separately demarcated for the ruler. It is visually severed from the general prayer area with the help of screens formed by intersecting series of arches. This was a varied version of the architectural style that was incorporated in the earlier existing mosque. The screens emphasized the special status of the space, which is composed of three domed bays in front of the Mihrab. Rather than being a traditional niche, the Mihrab was given a form of entire room lay by two other rooms having decorated entrances similar to the Mihrab. It is decorated with marble and mosaics. The Maqsura space can be identified on many distinct levels. It also reflects the appropriation of a tri-apsidal arrangement found in local church architecture. The Use of Innovative construction techniques On account of the innovative techniques that have been used while building it, the mosque has been seen as landmark achievement which no other mosque had achieved and for the same reason, it has been considered as a great monument of its time. These arches were a new introduction in architecture and helped to support the tremendous weight of higher ceiling. The two tired roof bearing the arches, are a well known construction innovation in the building. The multicolored stones placed in the arch give them a different look. In the extension phase, the new arches were done in differently rather than continuing on with the pattern of two-tiered arches. The arch was broken up into smaller segments which resulted in a complex pattern of intercrossing arches that were used as decorative elements on the wall and gates and as supports in construction. The building contains over 1000 columns to support the large arches. The dome in the centre is having a simple form but is broken up into smaller segments. It has more complex parts that resulted from eight crossing ribs that give it a distinct look. A centrally located honey-combed dome has blue tiles decorated with stars. Image 7: The dome with eight crossing ribs and the blue tiles in the center The comparison of the 'Crystal Cathedral' with the 'Mosque of Cordoba' The crystal cathedral and the mosque of Cordoba are both examples of religious public buildings. These buildings, rather than greatly following the intentions of a single person follows the needs of the time in which it was built and reflects the state of architecture in that specific era. In the case of the mosque, it is built in parts as extensions over a period of around two centuries; hence it further decreases the chances of any personal influences. Therefore the comparison and contrasting of these two works of architecture, having a gap of around 1200 years between the dates of their construction could give us interesting and genuine results of comparison. Both the buildings have a common purpose, that is, to provide a place of praying for masses. The cathedral departs from its traditional plan form of the church and makes innovation to give it a star like shape in the plan. In the case of the mosque, in the absence of any identified style of Islamic construction, it tries to innovate a style of construction and realize forms which it could establish as Islamic architecture. The mosque was looking for its own identity for the religion of Islam, whereas for the church it was not the same case. During the period when the mosque was built, there were around three thousand religious public buildings in the city of Cordoba, which comprised of mosques and public baths. This specific mosque, being much different and refined from all those buildings, set an example for other Islamic buildings to follow. The crystal cathedral too has been an exception from the identified styles of Christian religious buildings. The building complex is unique in architectural history of Christian buildings and something that none of the other mega church had done before. The designs of the building are influenced by the society that produced it. The mosque has been covered from all the four sides with high walls to prevent any viewing from the surrounding, whereas the cathedral design facilitates the viewers from the outside to view the activities taking place in the insides. The insides of the cathedral is all a part of single volume of space that allows transparency whereas the mosque has separately demarcated spaces for general public and other dignitaries for offering prayers Both the buildings use innovative techniques for construction. With the innovative forms suggested by the mosque, several features and techniques later became a permanent part of the African Islamic architecture. The construction techniques were repeated in different countries of Africa like Morocco, Telemsen and Isfahan. The ribbed dome was widely imitated in Europe and according to some academicians like Lambert, Male and Choisy, the Cordobian dome was the origin of the ribbed vaulting technique of the gothic architecture. The crystal cathedral has set no example of such architectural style for other religious Christian buildings to follow. This can also be owing to the fact that Christianity is more than two thousand years old religion and it is in no search of its identity. The cathedral being constructed in the modern era, and having at its disposal modern construction technology and modern material like steel, is able to achieve a height of around twelve storey without any support in the center, whereas the mosque, to cover a larger span of covered area, required a support of around 12,000 columns. Further, the space created in the interiors of the cathedral is totally column free to facilitate free passage of the users and provide unblocked visibility to the attendants. The mosque on the other hand has a network of columns that are placed to support the span of the lofty roof. . Conclusively, it can be said that there are more of dissimilarities as compared to similarities in between the two buildings. Beginning form the principles employed in the architectural design to the construction techniques, the buildings have wide varieties. The religious buildings also display the values of the religion and the society for which they are built. However, it remains common in between both that they utilized innovative construction techniques for construction in their own period. Part 5 Reading list: Williams, Peter W., Houses of God: Region, Religion, and Architecture in the United States: University of Illinois. 2000. Maddex, Diane, Master Builders: A Guide to Famous American Architects: John Wiley and Sons. 1996. Fergusson, James. A History of Architecture in All Countries, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. J. Murray. 1893 Dodds, Jerrilynn. Architecture and Ideology in Early Medieval Spain Penn State Press. 1994 Hoffman, Eva. Late Antique, Medieval, And Mediterranean Art. Blackwell Publishing. 2007 The outline of analysis and comparison The architectural design of both the buildings with focus on the principles followed in it. The technology of construction and the use of materials. The reflection of social values and needs of the times in which the building in built, in the architectural design The innovative techniques used for construction that has set new trends. The purpose of the building and its effect in the design. The discussion of the plan form and its comparison with the similar and dissimilar features of the other building. The influence of the religious beliefs in the architecture of the buildings. The similarities and dissimilarities in between the construction style of buildings having a gap of 1200 years between their constructions The influence of other contemporary styles in architecture on the buildings Their contribution to the field of architecture and the result that is generated. Read More