Spoken Silence - Designing for a Catholic Ritual
'Spoken Silence – Designing for a Catholic Ritual' is a thesis of three equal parts: Silence, a Catholic Gesture, and the Design Methodology.
Silence is an essential ingredient in our daily life: a simple and basic need for sanity and survival. The world has become too loud with an increase in activity; people have become insensitive and detached, and the loudness has become so intense that it has developed into noise. Silence then enters, initiating our focus, our direction, and ultimately our peace. But silence is more than the absence of voice or sound. It is not about being mute or ignorant when communication is required. Nothing needs to be said, and we should still be able to express ourselves.
Though quiet, we make ourselves counted. When we are silent, we should be able to speak not only in words but also through action.
The Catholic ritual, kneeling, is diminishing due to a lack of encouragement, and the meaning behind the practice is becoming lost. This thesis presents a community garden inspired by the ritual and aims to revive the practice of unconsciously kneeling within space.
The posture comes with a great desire to worship God. The bending of the knee means the submission of one's strength to our creator. This posture is communicated in silence and allows for peace, harmony, beauty, and hope. Kneeling is the completion of believers' holistic adoration in God, with the physical action magnifying the spiritual intention.
Methodologies progressed throughout this thesis are crucial in manifesting and investigating kneeling as a Catholic ritual. The processes followed in this thesis were initiated by photography and an analysis of the act of kneeling. Developments included drawing iterations through trace in sections, resulting in simplified vector lines, spatialising the ritual into forms.
Lastly, model-making prevailed to realise the gardens in the following compositional studies. The process was cyclic and repeated, allowing re-interpretation of early drawings and models via these various media.
This thesis is a Garden of Serenity, on the periphery of St Luke's Catholic Community Church property down to Otara Creek, in East Auckland. It is a place of meditation, appreciation, and conversations. Native flora will flourish seasonally, with some presence of fauna along the various courtyards pierced on the meandering site. The garden's plants will be as diverse as the community they serve, with the residents in Flat Bush able to plant their own – unconsciously weaving ownership, respect, and civility through time.
Hopefully, in the simple revival of the ritual, kneeling will ultimately enhance faithfulness within the Catholic Church. Kneeling extends through Catholic and secular communities, connected through the architectural space of the Garden of Serenity. The garden builds a community that provides a space and relationship with each and the Earth, to become a cultural touchstone – unifying the community in the coexistence of spoken silence.
