religion & belief systems

Introductionreligion & belief systems

Religion and belief system are such big subject to cover, I therefore narrowed down my research to areas that are of particular interest to me; these were -

• The topic of ‘sin’ and ‘sinning’.

• Religious architecture and environments.

• The atheism identity.

Objective of religionreligion & belief systems

Ultimately, religion is a program that prevents chaos and anarchy by proposing a set of rules or laws as well as a reward system.

If these rules are broken then you have committed a sin.

I am very interested by the concept of sinning and self-discipline within a belief system.

‘How far would you go to prevent yourself from sinning?’

Sinnerreligion & belief systems

Through forums I asked a series of question to religious people, one of the questions being

‘If religious, how far would you go to prevent yourself from sinning?’

The answers were very interesting, some suggesting that they would go very far but all through self-discipline.

Could there be tools to prevent sinning, my research led me to a statement

‘Instruments to prevent sinful acts’I looked at various religions and came up with some quick ideas.

Sin preventers - Fastingreligion & belief systems

It is obligatory for Muslims to fast through the month of Ramadan. I investigated something that could prevent people from eating that has a lock, timed to open only once the fast is meant to be broken.

The idea is a fasting muzzle to go around the mouth which is light and won’t restrict breathing.

Sin preventer – Chastity beltreligion & belief systems

An extreme classic sin preventer is the chastity belt, although now I want to update this concept for acceptance in modern society.

This would take shape as a range of tee-shirts with slogans such as ‘I have Gonorrhea’ or ‘I have Syphilis’.

I have aI have

I have

Sin preventer – Liarreligion & belief systems

How many times have you had the urge to lie?

The conventional polygraph machine reinterpreted to be ‘implanted’ into the body. Small sensor implanted on to finger tips with an alarm and microphone implanted in the arm.

When the person lies a series of alarms will sound and the information sent wirelessly to a computer. This will give a detailed account of lies and an opportunity for the liar to repent their sins away.

Architecture religion & belief systems

The Christians have the Church, the Muslims the Mosque and the Buddhists have their Temple.

All religious organisations have their own establishments, somewhere their followers can congregate too, so why not atheists?

‘Where do you go if you want to find out about Atheism, Humanism or Rationalism?’

Religious spacesreligion & belief systems

There are numerous considerations when designing an environment for religious groups, such as the traditional roots or cultural environments.

The main elements taken in to account –

• the needs of cultural groups • integrating historic architectural forms • communicate cultural history and cultural message• based on or echoing traditional building forms

Superstar - Mobile Chinatownreligion & belief systems

Beijing-based architects MAD designed a conceptual, star-shaped, mobile Chinatown.

The architects describe the project as “response to the redundant and increasingly out-of-date nature of the contemporary Chinatown”.

This is an example of an extreme conceptual design, which has led me to create a conceptual space/environment for atheists and the non-religious.

Atheist Architecture?

religion & belief systems

This will give atheists and the non-religious a place to congregate to, the key functions/attributes being-

• To hold events and talks

• Hold a library of philosophical books

• Drop in centre and café

• Function suites for humanist wedding and civil partnership ceremonies

• And ultimately, give people who are curious about atheism, humanism, rationalism an opportunity to learn about this particular way of life.