Transparent Church: A Study of Interpenetration

Abstract

Thesis Statement: To find the threshold between the intimate early NZ home church and modern shed church. Transparency: The state of being transparent dwells more into the intellectual perception than just a mere visual illusion. As suggested by Collin Rowe and Robert Slutsky in the essay 'Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal', put forward the notion of phenomenal transparency being "a further level of interpretation - if one sees two or more figures overlapping one another, and each of them claims for itself the common overlapped part, then one is confronted with a contradiction of spatial dimensions, hence the interpretation without an optical destruction of each other" - Collin Rowe and Robert Slutzky in other words - the threshold of being transparent. The overlapping areas created by the mingling of spaces, generates points of threshold where the individual space in essence "not only recedes but fluctuates in a continuous activity" (Rowe and Slutzky). Perceptual Transparency in the organizational aspect plays a major part in freeing the mind from the implied optical qualities inherent to substance or matter. This not only engages the eye but an intellectual interpretation of the concept of transparency. Interpenetration becomes the medium for the mind recognize a threshold which lies in the overlapping area of two separate spaces. By their design, all buildings today are as open as possible. They blur their arbitrary boundaries, seeking connection and interpenetration. They move into each other, and back out again. Threshold: The Church is a typical typology of what Benjamin Walter calls a 'transitional building'. We enter for a brief moment, and exit to continue with our busy everyday lives. It can be argued that nothing of our individual characters are left behind, leaving an empty space that is there only to fulfill its transitional purpose. However, it can also be said that it is a collaborative outcome of the individual integration. We leave traces of our presence within the space or structure. The occasional fixing of a leaky ceiling or the peeling off of paint after taping information to the walls, all leave behind clues of habitation. By merging of interior and exterior offers a possibility of finding the threshold. Rather than a transitional space where things pass and no definite evidence of habitation are left behind, the Church can become the threshold, where all things gather.