Finding meaning in the profane

Abstract

Religion is in decline and spirituality starts to take on a more prominent role instead. Although there are abundant religious spaces, this shift did not cause a development in architecture yet. Libraries have similar qualities to religious spaces, like the sense of community and the feeling of retreat, so it is interesting to research how this typology can support spirituality. The Ets Haim library is the oldest Jewish library in the world and was founded to rediscover the Jewish identity of converted Jews who fled Spain and Portugal. This study aims to dissect the palimpsest of this library for a better understanding of the physical representation of spirituality by answering the question: How does Ets Haim Library support the notion of spirituality? There has been ample of research that addresses the impact of architecture on a transcending experience. Elements like urban context, light, geometry, materials and symbolism stand out as main influences, but it must be mentioned that spirituality is a subjective concept and it cannot be confined to a list of elements or a design manual. After a comprehensive analysis, it became clear that the Ets Haim supports spirituality by immaterial values like history, community and knowledge and material elements like geometry, light, colour and above that the book as a symbol.