Sustainable Sacred Spaces: An Interdisciplinary FrameworkLinking Theology, Environmental Science, and Architectural Design
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14419/85dasv52Published
16-12-2025Keywords:
Sacred Architecture; Sustainable Design; Environmental Science; Theological Aesthetics; Lived Theology; Vernacular Architecture; Human-Environment Interaction; World ChristianityAbstract
This interdisciplinary conceptual paper examines sacred architecture as both a theological expression and an environmental system that shapes human experience through light, acoustics, materiality, and spatial proportion. It argues that churches are not only symbolic artifacts, but applied frameworks in which theology, aesthetics, and sustainable design converge. Drawing on lived theology and Hans Urs von Balthasar’s theological aesthetics, the study interprets sacred spaces as perceptual environments that translate intangible experiences of faith into embodied sensory form. Situated within the global diversity of world Christianity, the paper highlights vernacular innovations, such as bamboo, adobe, and stone construction, that integrate local ecology, cultural identity, and theological meaning. Addressing a gap in existing sustainability models, which treat worship spaces as generic public buildings, the paper proposes a framework that explicitly links theological intent with environmental performance variables. Four principles, namely: form follows faith, beauty as invitation, culture matters, and ecological concern; are articulated as design heuristics that can inform daylighting strategies, acoustic clarity, thermal comfort, life-cycle assessment, and the specification of low-carbon or bio-based materials. Using a conceptual, interdisciplinary synthesis, the study positions sacred architecture as a domain where theological reflection and applied environmental research mutually inform one another, offering new pathways for spiritually resonant, culturally rooted, and ecologically responsible design.
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