Constructing Space: Six Communal Religious Groups and Their Spatial Worlds

Worldviews and experiences of place among noted religious communities

Religion transforms and inspires specific ways of living in the world. Through architecture and the built environment, members of religious communities communicate intangible beliefs about God, gender and family, the sacred and profane, and more. This captivating volume explores the spatial worlds of six different religious communities— the Latter-day Saints, the Oneida Colony, the Shakers, the Branch Davidians, the FLDS, and Adidam—through the architecture and cultural landscapes they built.

What does the strict order and regularity of a Shaker village tell us about the community’s hierarchies and relationships? How might a temple building site affect an LDS Church member’s daily life? Constructing Space reveals the hidden language of meaning, association, and identity that religious persons speak as they mold their faith into concrete forms, and how they interpret the meanings of those spaces within their practices.

Martha Bradley Evans, former senior associate vice president of academic affairs and dean of undergraduate studies at the University of Utah, is author of Pedestals and Podiums: Utah Women, Religious Authority and Equal Rights and An Architectural Travel Guide to Utah.