A student of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology took second place in the international architectural competition “Faith”. The competition was organized by the UNI platform bringing together over 150 thousand architects and designers from all over the world.
The participants’ task was to design a place in Beijing where everyone, regardless of religion or a lack of it, would find relief, hope or solitude. Such a place should be user-friendly, guarantee intimacy and space to calm down, and should visually change with the seasons of the year.
When designing the Interfaith Dialogue Center, Alicja Kowalewska relied on the idea of four elements, which for centuries were considered mystical, creating the structure of the world and resonating with the human soul. She proposed pavilions that do not refer to any specific religion with their architecture, but create the sacred by consciously designing the moods and emotions that they can evoke.
