There is a skylight letting light into the church’s meeting rooms below street-level that has sayings inscribed in it.
A few words caught my eye – particularly ‘home’. Home can be very difficult to define sometimes, and often has complex issues surrounding it.
On the physical level, it is the roof over one’s head; and not everyone has access to shelter. How we define this can vary dramatically from generation to generation, and around the world. What some consider basics are luxuries for others.
Being an architectural photography, I am very interested in the fabric of home. I enjoy how different materials and designs affect the look, feel and mood of a structure. While I have my own tastes on architecture, I do appreciate how architectures defines a living space.
But there was something else about the word ‘Home’ that drew me to it.
Jennifer Kavanagh makes a good point in her book The O of Home: home is so much more than the walls or the city / country where we live in. Ultimately, we need to feel at home with ourselves.
Being at home with ourselves isn’t easy, and many of us, if not most, struggle with it. In many ways, the buildings around us can reflect what’s going on inside. However, architecture can also influence how people feel. Light and airy buildings are often much more uplifting than dark ones.
Ultimately, how much we feel at home in ourselves and in our surroundings is down to us. However welcoming we make ourselves and our surroundings is something within our control.