What i feel is that religious architecture is the most challenging of all forms of this profession. A temple or a mosque is not just another public place. Its an different realm altogether; something reflecting its own character and the character of the almighty sitting in it.
I don’t know much about mosques or chapels but the ancient hindu temples had something very intresting, holy and divine linked to them. Not long back, i got a chance to visit a few temples of Tamil Nadu.
I was there with my friends and as we entered, I felt that the aura of the art and architecture took over us. We were all together and separate at the same time, as if in someone elses territory. I realized it and I could make out the rest of my friends were feeling it too. And this was probably more because of the architecture of the place than the holy god residing in it.
This is what the quality of a space can do to you. It can make you feel strange things, somethings you have never felt before…