According to estimates made before the pandemic, 2026 will see the end of a 140-year-old construction site, that of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, by Antoni Gaudí. In 1882, such an enterprise for the benefit of a religious institution did not surprise anyone. What about today? How do we build places of worship today? Church, mosque, temple or synagogue: examples abound, and differ, as much as in the way they are financed as in their shape, without mentioning their cult, which is not the subject of this issue.Here, it is architecture we are interested in. But this begins with the light, which forms the backdrop of any sacred edifice.

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In this issue 

NEWS

In the eye of the artist JR ; the Pritzker Prize of Lacaton et Vassal ; Reading tips from the Mollat bookstore in Bordeaux ; three questions to Christophe Hutin ; buildings ; exhibitions , visits and the “lifestyle” AA’s selection.

VIEW POINTS

ART — Uncollecting, a Philippe Trétiack’s investigation about the question of the restitution of works, in connection with the Ex Africa exhibition currently at the Quai-Branly museum – Jacques Chirac
CINEMA — “The sacred and the screen”, the places of worship at the cinema by Mathieu Marcheret
PHOTO REPORT — Cult Commodification, the Dhammakaya movement in Thailand, by Anastasia de Villepin
INTERVIEW— Faith, finance and influence with Anne Fornerod, specialist in religious law, interviewed by Léa Mosconi

PORTRAIT

Holy Mario Botta! by Jean-Philippe Hugron
“Each answer is contingent — contingent on the verb but also on time. Mario Botta, who was born in 1943 in Mendrisio, is a master of his craft and, being attentive to what surrounds him, also says he is indebted to historians. Over the years, the architect from Ticino has built his body of work in the image of a Renaissance man, as both a builder and a humanist.”

DOSSIER

INTRODUCTION — “Murus Sanctum” ; Is sacred architecture independent of its object? The questions of Eric de Thoisy
UTOPIA — House of One : three religions, one house. Interview with architect Wilfried Kuehn by Andrew Ayers
HERITAGE — Spaces of Worship in Egypt, a dive into the “city with a thousand minarets”, Cairo, by Mohamed Elshaed
BUILDINGS —

Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, The Hill of Buddha, Makomanai Takino Cemetery, Sapporo, Japan, 2015, an exclusive interview with Tadao Ando by Bert Muynck
Candalepas Associates, Punchbowl Mosque, Australia, 2017, by Herbert Wright
INUCE Dirk U. Moench, Huawiang Christian Centre, Fuzhou, China, 2018, by Anastasia de Villepin
Manuel Herz Architects, Babyn Yar Synagogue, Kiev, Ukraine, 2021, by Manuel Herz
Alvaro Siza, Anastasis Church, Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande, France, 2018, by Christine Desmoulins
Atelier Masomi et Studio Chahar, Religious and secular complex of Hikma Dandaji, Niger, 2018, by Anastasia de Villepin 

TESTIMONY — The Mosques That We Deserve, the Meriem Chabani testimony about the challenges of building a mosque in the 21st century
EXPERTISE — “Churches must go back to being public spaces”, interview with the priest – architect, Brother Charles Desjobert by Emmanuelle Borne

TRENDS

Lighting to magnify: natural light, artificial light by Yên Bui

In the News — Smart Light by Jung
Innovations — Sunne, Marjan Van Aubel and Opticlip, Sylvania
Projects & Products — la sélection d’AA