Mashriqu'l-Adhkar:
Sacred Architecture and the Bahá'í faith

by Kenneth B. Sewell

Abstract: ...I have always had an interest in exploring ways of communicating with architecture. I firmly believe that architecture has the capability of communicating or embodying complex ideas, and that it reveals the values, beliefs, and context of the people who commission it, design it, build it, and occupy it both intentionally and subconsciously. Architecture often communicates through symbols, metaphor, and inscriptions and statuary to create narrative spaces, elements, and sequences. Architecture also reveals values by being the physical product of decisions and positions taken on the issues of its construction (such as attitudes toward nature, people nearby, excess of wealth, etc.). I wanted to know what it was possible to say and how I could say it...