All of the most visually powerful spaces we visited had a strong sense of vertical scale to the primary worship spaces – often accentuated by slender vertical columns (Sagrada, Coventry, Cologne, Grace, Pilgrimage Church)
The power of a man-made structure ascending toward the heavens is a fundamental characteristic of gothic church architecture – was our reaction to these spaces merely a recognition of the familiar or of the spatial composition itself?
Other buildings on our tour that presented large high spaces but no distinct emphasis of the vertical proportion (Christ the Light, Evry, Pius Church perhaps seemed to give a greater sense of the presence of ‘community’ rather than the presence of the divine.
A number of buildings we visited clearly prioritised the spatial effect of columns over their effect on sightlines (Coventry, Sagrada Familia, Cologne).
Photographs showing: St Mary’s, San Francisco / Sagrada Familia, Barcelona / Coventry Cathedral / Cologne Cathedral / Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
