Keywords: art, drawing, sacred space, form, architecture, geometry
In this workshop, we will sketch and experiment with Dom Hans van der Laan’s concepts of the Plastic Number, nearness and superposition. The act of drawing together, ‘thinking through drawing’, creates practical insights. It provides a universal foundation for a design methodology that superimposes bodily presence into the built environment, offering an approach to large-scale and complex new projects and reconversions. Every architecture that deals with being human aims ‘to house’, to provide a house in a functional and a philosophical manner. The Hagia Sophia in this proves to be a dynamic force for its creation.
Already in his first lectures on church architecture, the Benedictine monk and architect Dom Hans van der Laan (1904-1991) approached the church as a house, where its primary function lay in the act of dwelling as a mental construct. Van der Laan aimed to establish architectural fundamentals, to ‘restore, in all its objectivity, the fundamental and intrinsic architectural laws’. The inspirations were drawn from his Catholic Benedictine background, through the device Ora et Labora, meaning pray and work, life as an interplay between contemplation and daily activities. From St. Dyonisius he learned the concept of Imma Sumis; the highest always in reconciliation of the lowest, emphasizing the universal character of religious architecture. The central concept evolved around his own proportional series of the Plastic Number, approximately 3 : 4, which for Van der Laan offered an analogy between the bodily experience and the rational understanding of space. Several of Van der Laan’s students redrew the mosques to study their proportions and typology. One example took on the central position: it was the Hagia Sophia that proved to be the essential archetype that propelled his thinking. Around the same time, Van der Laan started the design for the church and crypt for St. Benedictusberg in Vaals (1958-1960), drastically changing towards an austere and elementary architectonic language. Devoid of any ornamentation, its spaces are shaped by series of carefully proportionated columns and window openings, classical rhythms of primitive building blocks that become alive as dynamic and interwoven environments, oscillating through movement and modern diagonal perspectives. The rough materiality, range of grey complementary colors, furniture and the play of deep shadows and daylight create an overwhelming monumentality and an intimate deep quietness and calm at the same times. The Hagia Sophia in this shaped Van der Laan’s identity and architectonic space.
This workshop will start with an introductory lecture on the plastic number, superposition and nearness.* It builds on drawing together, by following practical examples from Van der Laan’s abbeys and houses built by him and his students. Excerpts from the forthcoming book by the author, A House to Live With, will be shown for the first time.
Practicalities:
- max. 30 persons
- bring sketching paper, squared paper, pencil/pen, ruler
- projection with screen, tables with chairs to sketch.
- Proposed time: 3-4 hours.
