SANCTUARY

What constitutes sacred space and how is it created? By whom and for whom?

SANCTUARY is an architectural exploration of the fundamental nature of sacred space. Enclosed in common materials, erected for a temporary moment, and standing in an ordinary location, the Sanctuary is a space in which people can converge to share their sorrows, joys, and hopes, to witness without judgment, and to yearn for a greater understanding of our existence and true nature.

SANCTUARY has been created four times. It asserts the equality of the LGBTQ+ community in its form and process of creation, and beyond that the equality of all human beings in the face of the sacred. Creating sacred interaction on a public sidewalk using cardboard and repurposed waste material, the structure seeks to invoke a sense of wonder, to generate meaningful interaction through sharing and witnessing of personal experience, and to create a memorable form and experience suggesting what is possible though it lasts only a brief moment. The project speaks through exploring the paradoxes of the sacred and profane, high tech and low tech, designed and spontaneous, simple and monumental, new and repurposed.

Explore the history of the project on the following pages.