The Nine Valleys - Towards Embodied Experience: Understanding the Confluence of Material & Spirit in the Design of a Baha'i House of Worship

This thesis proposes a Temple for Canada situated in Thornhill, Ontario, guided by the Institution of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár - a concept embodied within the Bahá'í Faith. At the center of the Institution is the Temple, or House of Worship, open to all irrespective of religious affiliation, background, or gender. A two-year engagement with the site attempted to meld open-ended experiential and scientific approaches to provide experienced wisdom as design prompts. A more embodied reflection rooted in place and time has encouraged a design practice that aims to reclaim active participation and potentials for contact between site, place, and people. The premise is to reconcile the visual with other modes of perception to resist isolation and passivity bred by the dominance of sight in experiencing the built environment. In terms of methodology, the design is approached through a prolonged and multi-sensorial understanding of site as understood through phenomenology and embodied experience.