Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2. The Middle Ground of Interpretation: Phenomenology, Hermeneutics and the Sensory Experience of Architecture 3. Practices of Connection: Applications of Transcendentalist and Buddhist Philosophies 4. Meditating Elements: Symbolism, Religion and the In-between 5. Symbolic Engagements: The Media of Architecture 6. Earth and Sky: Place and Primordial Architecture 7. The Sacred Path and Place: Spatial Sequences and Symbolic Narratives 8. Ordering the World: The Symbolism of Proportion and Geometry 9. Perfected Worlds: Cosmograms and Connections 10. Conclusion 11. Closing Thoughts: Personal Experiences of Place

About the Author

Thomas Barrie is Professor of Architecture at North Carolina State University whose scholarship on the symbolism, ritual use, and cultural significance of architecture has taken him to sacred places around the world. He is an award-winning architect and the author of Spiritual Path - Sacred Place: Myth, Ritual and Meaning in Architecture (Shambhala Publications, 1996).