(now
BUILT
ENVIRONMENT AND BIBLICAL THEOLOGY
MAKING
CONNECTIONS: DISCERNING RELATIONSHIPS
MICHAEL POWELL
Doctor of Philosophy February 2003
3
- MODELS
The large room and the small room, the room with the fireplace and the
room without, all become great events in your mind. (Louis Kahn)
3.1 Purpose
The purpose of this Section is to show how a `picture'
model and a 'disclosure' model for relating Built Environment to Biblical
Theology developed.
3.2
Early configurations
Four groups of materials had to be considered:
detailed
materials on
wider
built environment materials
wider biblical theology materials.
These groups started to become conceptualised as the
plan of a Roman circus, the two straight sides of which might represent the
two groups of detailed materials and the rounded ends, the two groups of wider
materials.
Further explorations were made using the elliptical
plan form of the
Doodling
proceeded from elliptical plan forms to semi-elliptical. Suddenly the semi-elliptical
doodles started to look somewhat like the plan form of Sydney Opera House. The
main feature of Sydney Opera House is that the two major auditoria, the
Concert Hall and the Opera Theatre, lie side by side. It was thought that one
might be interpreted to represent built environment and the other biblical
theology, both within the one integral building.
Alternatively,
one of the auditoria might represent the detailed aspects of both built
environment and biblical theology, and the other the wider aspects of both. It
seemed to have possibilities.
After further consideration, it was decided that Sydney
Opera House would be an appropriate basis for a model. It was a building known
to the writer, located in
The dynamic of the building lies in its sail-like form.
Although firmly founded on the land, it interacts visually with the wind and
the sea. It is a living structure. The significance of that for this thesis
would be revealed only gradually.
3.3
Messent (1997)
tells the story of the design and building of Sydney Opera House. Of
particular interest was the struggle that the architect, Jom Utzon, and the
engineers, Arups, had in order to
make Utzon's vision of a sail-like structure mathematically coherent and
practically build-able. For five years they struggled to relate mathematics and geometry to the desired form. They found it impossible.
Then Utzon began to explore the idea of the sphere. He
experimented to find out rvnether the sail-like elements could be different
parts taken from a single sphere. A fresh team of engineers from Arups worked
with him to make that possible. Fromonot (1998) says: `He altered the given of
the problem by proposing that the surfaces of all the shells should be
calculated from one potential sphere'.
It was the idea of the single sphere that was exciting
from the point of view of this thesis. The Opera Theatre and the Concert Hall
were different auditoria but one in terms of the sphere from which their
superstructures were formed. Built Environment and Biblical Theology were
different yet they were both part of the one sphere of human learning, insight
and practical experience. They could be envisaged side-by-side as separate
integrities within a unity. There would, however, be further developments
Note:
There have been misunderstandings about the single sphere. For example, Drew
(1992) refers to two spheres having different diameters. Fromonot (1998) p133,
Note 3, explains that Drew is in error. There is only one sphere.
.
3.4
A theological perspective
To ensure the balance of this thesis between its Built
Environment and Biblical Theology aspects, it was important that the Built
Environment aspect should not become over dominant in the central model.
It came to light that on occasion theologians have
worked with models. Ramsey (1964) had written of models in relation to
inter-disciplinary studies of theology and science. He was found to
distinguish between what he chose to call 'picture' models and 'disclosure'
models. 'Picture' models, like scale models of houses or trains, enable one to
visualize w-hat something is like. `Disclosure' models represent
something that eludes grasp and needs to be represented in a way that is
similar to, but distinct from, the reality in question.
At this point it became clear that Sydney Opera House
was beginning to work for this thesis in both ways.
It will later be shown in much greater detail that the
single sphere enables one to obtain clear insights into the elusive unity and
connectedness of Built Environment and Biblical Theology. The 'disclosure'
model became heuristic in nature, that is, it enabled discovery, or
revelation, to happen.
3.5
From a sphere of concrete to one of dynamic light
The
risk with Sydney Opera House as the model was that it would be utilized and
interpreted in too rigid and structural a way. The risk did not become a
reality as the thinking about the model was going on simultaneously with the
exploration of the materials. Biblical Theology materials were bringing to the
fore topics such as light, space and time, for example in a trilogy of texts
by MacKenzie (MacKenzie 1994, 1995,1996).' The same or similar topics were
arising from Built Environment texts such as those of Lobell (2000) and
Rowntree (1994).
MacKenzie (1996),
writing about light, was drawing heavily on the work of Robert Grosseteste, an
early thirteenth century thinker working in a pre-specialization way in what
today might be separately construed as philosophy, science and theology.
Grosseteste's model of the world was that everything began from an original
point of light, moving out to form the sphere and substance of Earth, as we
now know it. This was a dynamic picture of the sphere, a sphere coming into
being through light and energy, not the literally concrete sphere of Sydney
Opera House.
In terms of this thesis, one could imagine the Biblical
Theology materials developing from the centre of the sphere in the shape of
cones until they reached the surface. conversely, Built Environment materials
could be imagined as surface areas forming we bases of cones and penetrating
down into the sphere to the central point of ultimate meaning and existence.
A chance discussion with a theologian reminded the
writer that this Built Environment dynamic was centripetal in nature, being
drawn from the perimeter and the surface -wards the centre in
search of meaning and significance, while the Biblical Theology dynamic was
centrifugal in nature, being thrown from the centre to the perimeter and
surface to seek embodiment and application.
At
this point it became apparent that the thesis had not only thrown off the risk
that the models would be used in too static a way (including the side-by-side
auditoria) but had created a dynamic, open-ended possibility of life and
movement.
Any pattern of movement could be seen as cone-like,
with its apex at the centre of the sphere and its partly spherical base on the
surface.
3 6 Surface pattern
A further refinement in the `disclosure' model had yet
to occur. This concerned surface pattern.
McEvoy (2000) explains how Grosseteste saw the creation
narrative of Genesis 1:1-2:4 in the literary form of a Hexaemeron,
the work of creation being done on six days deriving his insights from
thirty-six previous authors. In relation to the present thesis, that meant
that from the original point of light there could be imagined to emerge a
hexagonal figure containing within itself and depicting the meaningful
beginning of light, and, water, plant, animal and human life. This hexagon of
meaning is propelled .-centrifugally towards the surface where it
encounters Built Environment, a creative work Df human life, drawing together
light, land and the products of land to create shelter for itself and express
meaning. While this was fascinating in relation to Genesis, it appeared to be
irrelevant to other materials under consideration.
However, a study of the geometric forms of the sphere
did reveal that, at its surface, the spherical truncated icosohedron consists of a symmetrical pattern of twenty
hexagons and twelve pentagons. This pattern is commonly used in the design of
the soccer ball, the hexagons usually being white and the pentagons black. As
will be shown ,5 what became significant for this thesis, out of
all the possibilities was the pattern of a black pentagon with five white
hexagons grouped around it, each of which had conical dynamic connections to
the centre. See Figure 4(c) page 19.
It is important to keep in mind the dynamic and
heuristic nature of the model developed. McFague (1982) emphasises the
dynamic nature of models. For her, a model is a dominant metaphor. Like a
metaphor, a model always carries ‘is' and `is not' nuances. Metaphorical
statements always contain the whisper `and it is not'. The dynamic explored in
this thesis is like Sydney Opera House, but only when it ceases to be seen as
static concrete and becomes moving light.
What at this stage, was an exciting abstract model, was
to settle down and become a useful working tool.