Spiritual Centre (Vienna):
Who joins together religions, joins the people.
Although all religions have primarily the same origin and aim for the same goal, they reflect strongly cultural differences and misunderstandings due to lack of tolerance and willingness to communicate. This results in rejection too.
The roots of any respective cultural history are firmly shaped and influenced by religion.
All major religions proclaim peace, love and understanding. But the most extreme and violent conflicts throughout history, were and still are conflicts between different religious groups and their followers.
Here some examples:
Islam/Christianity: Crusades, Yugoslavia, suppression of Christians in Islamic States
Judaism: Persecution of Jews in the 3rd Reich
Hinduism/Islam: The separation of India and Bangladesh, bloody riots in India and the destruction of Mosques and Hindu sanctuaries.
Materialism/Buddhism: Suppression of Buddhism in Tibet, in order to destroy for example the cultural identity of the traditional population.
September 11th:
To bring Religions together whilst securing their individuality and independence can be the key to unite nations of different cultural backgrounds. Moreover this process could create an opportunity to understand the actual similarity of religious beliefs and ideologies. As if understanding religion means understanding people.
With all this in mind I tried to create the concept for a building that holds within itself the possibilities, for different cultures and religions to meet, join and connect.
Background Information