Discover the world's research25+ million members160+ million publication billion citationsJoin for free Natural Light as an Element to Create Sacred Environment in Churches Case Study Santo Kristoforus Catholic Church, Jakarta Melati Ayudyah Student of Magister Architecture, Departement of Interior Design Universitas Tarumanagara Jakarta, Indonesia melatimina Rudy Trisno Departement of Interior Design Universitas Tarumanagara Jakarta, Indonesia rudyt Naniek Widayati Departement of Architecture Universitas Tarumanagara Jakarta, Indonesia naniekw Fermanto Lianto Departement of Architecture Universitas Tarumanagara Jakarta, Indonesia fermantol Abstract— There was cases in November 2011 where catholic church architecture design around the world had deviation. The deviation mentioned was the loss of holy space in catholic church architecture due to inappropriate design according to the correct layout. This showed that sacred holy space is important in catholic church architecture. Based on the statement above, natural lighting is important to be discussed as a problem in a building architectural design. The methodology of this research is; first, Natural lighting enters less on the altar compared to audio-visual buffer on the seating area; second, Altar as the center of sacred value of the church; third, Quite and silent environment of the church added to the sacred impression. The conclusion in this study is Natural lighting enters less on the altar compared to audio-visual buffer on the seating area to create sacred environment has not been achieved by Kristoforus Church, Altar as the center of sacred value also not yet achieved because natural lighting intensity that spreads to all parts of the room, Silent and quiet environment that added to the sacred environment has also not been achieved by Kristoforus Church because the proportion of light on the altar and audio-visual buffer is similar. The finding of this study is the natural lighting filter on altar area and audiovisual buffer on the seating area affect sacred environment in church, thus the lighting on altar area should be brighter and more dominant than other areas Keywords natural light, sacred, church, church architectural lighting I. INTRODUCTION Lighting in churches has a very important rolebecause according to humans, lighting is a symbol oftruth, holiness, and the presence of God. Light canalso create religious, holy and special environment. Light is a sign of God’s presence whichprovides brightness and safety from holy area is marked by the existence oflight. Pope Benedict XVI cares a lot about holy artsand architecture of catholic churches, which is seenin the form of books, journals, and the content ofhomily which shows his concern. The Pope’s view onchurch architecture impact catholic churcharchitectures in the world [1]. In November 2011, there was a case wherecatholic church architecture design in the worldshowed deviations in the form of loss of holy areabecause of inappropriate design according to correctlayout rules. This showed that sacred holy area isimportant in the architecture of a catholic church. According to above statement, naturallighting is important to be discussed as a problem inbuilding architecture design, especially catholicchurches. In the past, churches always face west,thus the altar is in the east which received naturalsunlight [2]. This study is expected to provide an additionto knowledge regarding theories of catholic churcharchitecture, especially for the architects or interiordesigner who design churches so that they considernatural lighting which affects the environment andsacredness of church. II. MATERIAL AND METHODS A. Theorytical Review Lighting can create a sacred impression, especially inthe altar are. Meanwhile, seating area tend to bedarker compared to the altar. Natural lighting shouldbe less visible on the altar area compared to audio-visual buffer [3], thus creating a more sacred spacewith a sound-muffling audio- visual buffer [1]. Lighting influence is important to humansbecause the light entering the church can guidehumans closer to God and improving sacred values[4]. Not only bright light, darker light can alsoprovide sacred and holy impression [5]. The brightlight mentioned was to create light filter, while darkas a filter for audio-visual so that it should not enterthe room, therefore lighting Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 439Tarumanagara International Conference on the Applications of Social Sciences and Humanities TICASH 2019Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license - 251 become a point knownas “hierophany” that has holy power [2]. Supporting lighting carry the people in asacred environment through lighting layout in certainimportant locations altar, statue, and painting of thesaints [6]. There are several aspects that need to beconsidered regarding natural lighting process, best building orientation is North-South, avoidEast-West orientation [7]. According to the view from above theories,the author summarized the theories into aninstrument to analyze this study by using methods asfollows natural lighting on the altarcompared to audio-visual buffer inseating area. as the center of sacred value of thechurch. and quiet church environmentadded to the sacred impression. III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The case study obtained in this study was SantoKristoforus Catholic Church located in Jalan SatriaIV Blok C Nomor 68, Jelambar,Grogol Petamburan, West Jakarta, 11460 A Location of Kristoforus Church; B The outsideview of Kristoforus Church; C The interior ofKristoforus Church; D Natural lighting in altar. Source A B Irwin Permata,2016; C-D Documentation by Author i. Natural lighting enters less on the altar comparedto audio-visual buffer on the seating area In Figure 1C, the intensity of natural lightingin Kristoforus Church not only enters the altar area,but also the left, right, and the front of the churchthrough windows and door thus the natural lightingto the altar was less dominant because the lightspreads evenly ii. Altar as the center of sacred value of the church In Figure 1D, the altar of Kristoforus Churchis still the center of sacred space because of naturallighting orientation from high stained glass, like highexpectation to God. Lights from other sourcescreates a less sacred environment on the church altar iii. Quite and silent environment of the church addedto the sacred impression The proportion of light through the altar asthe center of sacred value in church, and quiet andsilent impression of the church has not yet been felt This was caused by the intensity of light that spreadsevenly to the room in the church without supportingaudio-visual buffer IV. CONCLUSIONS According to above results, the author concludes lighting enters less on the altar compared toaudio-visual buffer on the seating area to createsacred environment has not been achieved byKristoforus Church, 2. Altar as the center of sacredvalue also not yet achieved because natural lightingintensity that spreads to all parts of the room, and quiet environment that added to the sacredenvironment has also not been achieved byKristoforus Church because the proportion of lighton the altar and audio-visual buffer is similar. Theresults of this study were that the natural lightingfilter on altar area and audio-visual buffer on theseating area affect sacred environment Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 439252 in church,thus the lighting on altar area should be brighter andmore dominant than other areas. This study suggests that the natural lighting inKristoforus Church focuses the natural lighting onaltar area, adding audio-visual buffer to create darkerseating area to reinforce quiet and sacred impression. ACKNOWLEDGMENT Ir. Naniek Widayati, Ir. Rudy Trisno, andFermanto Liano Ir., Dr as advisors whoprovided input to this article. REFERENCES [1] Lobell, J., 1979. Between Silence And Light. Colorado Shambala Publication, Inc. Srisadono, Y. D., 2012. Konsep dalam Arsitektur Gereja Katolik. melintas, pp. 182- 206. [2] Eliade, M., 2002. Sakral dan Profan. Yogyakarta Fajar Pustaka Baru. Kieckhefer, R., 2004. Church Architecture from Byzantium to Berkeley. New York Oxford University. [3] Trisno, R. & Lianto, F., 2018. The Meaning of Natural Lighting on Altar Case Study Cathedral church and church of the light. Scopus. [4] Krautheimer, R., 1986. Early Christian and Byzantine architecture. London Yale University Press. [5] Ashihara, Y., 1971. Exterior Design in Architectur. USA Van Nostrand Reinhold Inc. [6] Dwi, N. E., Kurniati, F., Kusuma, H. & Widyawan, 2017. Makna Kesakralan Gereja Katolik. Jurnal Lingkungan Binaan Indonesia , pp. 195-202. [7] Lechner, N., 2001. Heating, Cooling, Lighting Design Methods for Architects. Second Edition ed. New York John Wiley& Sons, Inc..Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 439253 ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this lighting in the church greatly affects the value of sacredness, because the meaning of light in Christianity is known as father of light. Hence, this issue is very interesting to study. The methodology of this research is; first, the light filter orientation on the altar and sitting room as an audiovisual buffer; second, natural lighting as the center of divine power at the church altar; third, creating a sacred atmosphere which is silent and light. The conclusion in this study is that the orientation of light will give a sacred impression. The lighting on the altar is the climax of the church building, and the orientation of the light on the altar as a climax is the manifestation of silent and light. The finding of this study is that the illumination of the light filter on the altar is not greater than the sitting room which is a zoning of the audio visual buffer. The benefits of this research can be used for the development of church architecture theory and also for practitioners to design church Katolik merupakan tempat beribadah bagi umat Katolik. Gereja Katolik memiliki konsep sacred space. Manusia merasakan sacred space sebagai “kehadiran Tuhan” yang mengisi “kekosongan”. Persepsi umat sebagai pengguna mengenai kesakralan gereja Katolik merupakan lubang pengetahuan penting, namun belum terungkap. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk menggali hal-hal pokok terkait kesakralan gereja Katolik menurut persepsi umat. Penelitian menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif yang bersifat eksploratif. Pengumpulan data melalui kuesioner daring terbuka. Metode analisis menggunakan analisis isi. Berdasarkan hasil analisis ditemukan tiga makna kesakralan gereja, yaitu makna arsitektural, makna peribadatan, dan makna dalam Arsitektur Gereja Katolik. melintasJ LobellLobell, J., 1979. Between Silence And Light. Colorado Shambala Publication, Inc. Srisadono, Y. D., 2012. Konsep dalam Arsitektur Gereja Katolik. melintas, pp. dan Profan. Yogyakarta Fajar Pustaka BaruM EliadeR KieckheferEliade, M., 2002. Sakral dan Profan. Yogyakarta Fajar Pustaka Baru. Kieckhefer, R., 2004. Church Architecture from Byzantium to Berkeley. New York Oxford Design in ArchitecturY AshiharaAshihara, Y., 1971. Exterior Design in Architectur. USA Van Nostrand Reinhold Inc.