The Temple in the House: Finding the Sacred in Everyday Architecture

The Temple in the House: Finding the Sacred in Everyday Architecture

The Temple in the House: Finding the Sacred in Everyday Architecture

Author(s): Anthony Lawlor

Publisher: J P Tarcher

Paperback: 240 pages

ISBN: 0874777771

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Illustrated with more than 175 photos and renderings, this book shows how the spaces we inhabit, from our public streets to our homes, can transform us. An award-winning architect identifies the fundamental design forms that have evoked a spiritual response throughout time, and relates these patterns to the elemental patterns of human awareness. Each chapter offers exercises and practical suggestions.

Customer Comments

Brian O’Connor , 04/17/97, rating=10:
Lawlor puts into words the transcendence that I have experienced in involving myself in the construction of a dwelling, but have been unable to adequately express in words to others. His intertwining Eastern, American Indian and Western philosophical expressions into the architectural expression of our inner experiences makes a connection for me that furthers my understanding of my experiences in defining space, through conception, design and construction.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Pt. 1. The Temple of Mind, Body, and Environment
1. Spirit and Mortar
2. Gate, Path, Lotus Seat
3. Steeple and Sanctuary
4. The Eight Elemental Forms
5. Mind, Body, Architecture
6. Sunlight and Renewal
Pt. 2. Dwelling in the Sacred
7. Making a Sacred Place
8. The Sacred City
9. A Sacred World
Acknowledgments
List of Illustrations
Bibliography
Index

A Home for the Soul : A Guide for Dwelling With Spirit and Imagination

Author(s): Anthony Lawlor

Publisher: Clarkson Potter

ISBN: 0517704005

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A Home for the Soul : A Guide for Dwelling With Spirit and Imagination

1 Ed
Hardcover
Publication date: November 1997

Philosophy and Religion Editor’s Recommended Book, 01/01/98:
Mindfulness has become a common religious buzzword. In A Home for the Soul award-winning architect Anthony Lawlor shows us how to decorate a home that encourages mindfulness from every bathroom and bibelot. Despite a (perhaps unavoidable) tendency toward camp and solipsism, the stunning photographs and insights into the potentially sacred details of domestic living prompt you to pay closer attention to your immediate environment. For example, “Books are like small altars, each page serving as a threshold for crossing into realms of broadened vision.” Investing the items around us with soulful symbolism is like living in a temple of one’s own design.

Synopsis:
Perceiving and creating a home that uplifts the soul is the purpose of this book that invites readers to discover the abode of inspiration and delight hidden within their homes. Proceeding from kitchen to bedroom to garden, explaining how rooms and spaces can be arranged to harmonize with one’s deepest self, Lawlor gives creative, practical suggestions for decorating, renovating and even building houses and apartments that will nurture the spirit.

150 photos, 75 in color.