The document discusses how a person feels the spiritual sense of space within an Islamic mosque through their sensory experiences. When they enter the mosque, they feel peaceful, happy, cool, and calm. They particularly feel the presence of God within the mihrab, where they pray, and under the central dome. The light, scale, and architectural features make them feel tiny in comparison to God's greatness. They sense the love, perfection, and strength of God through the materials, decoration, and changing heights within the mosque's design.

1. Liong Lee Yee 0306254 Project 2: Literature Review (Spiritual Architecture of Gothic Literature Review) Subject: Islamic Architecture (ARC60803)
No
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Research
References
Research Objective Outcomes Theory Methodology
1. Anon, (2014). 1st
ed. [ebook]
Available at:
http://utcp.c.u-tokyo.
ac.jp/events/
pdf/025_Liu_Sheng
li_3rd_BESETO
[Accessed 13 Nov.
2014].
To demonstrate the
argumentative
significance of Merleau-
Ponty’s phenomenology
of space in steps.
To argue that an
archeology of primordial
spatiality is merged with
that of the lived body or
the perceived world to
form an integrated
spatial archeology.
Explicating the
argumentative
significance of
Merleau-Ponty’s
phenomenology of
space by clarifying
the fact that space is
one of the primordial
expressions of our
being-in-the-world
(world from
Heidegger)
Phenomenology of
Perception by
Merleau-Ponty has
been largely
underestimated. This
underestimation can
be tracked back to the
received view that
space problem is not
the primary theme of
phenomenology of
perception. Space
problem is not the
chief concern here in
the thematic sense.
Thus, the chief
concern is to establish
the primitive openness
of human
consciousness
towards the world
through the
intermediary of body
by characterizing the
existential structure of
human being.
1. The
archaeological
structure
2. The spatial
archaeology of the
lived body
3. The spatial
archaeology of the
perceived world
4.Archaeology and
teleology

2. 2. Theory of
Phenomenology:
Analyzing
Substance,
Application, and
Influence. (n.d.).
1st ed. [ebook]
Available at:
https://cte.ku.edu/si
tes/cte.drupal.ku.ed
u/files/docs/portfoli
os/kraus/essay2.pd
f [Accessed 13
Nov. 2014].
To highlight the
fundamental
characteristics of
“Phenomenology sense
of space” theory through
analysis of case studies,
in contrast to a more
rationalist design
approach.
Phenomenology is
an ambitious
argument for sensory
experience to be a
rigor of architectural
design. The
integration of
phenomenology into
our generation of
designing will
ultimately
acknowledge
architecture’s respect
to the human scale.
Designing an
experience is a unique
responsibility of an
architect.
Phenomenology
sense of space is an
abstract idea, being
different by each
individuals, that
implements sensory
design in order to
establish experiential,
and architectural
space, material, and
light and shadow to
create an impact on
the human senses.
Thus, this theory
promotes the
integration of sensory
perception as a
function of a built
form.
This paper
includes case
studies by
phenomenological
theorists, Alberto
Pérez-Gómez,
Peter Zumthor and
Steven Holl as
supportive
evidence to
highlight this
theory.

3. 3. Pallasmaa, J.
(2005). The eyes of
the skin.
Chichester: Wiley-
Academy.
To express the
significance of the tactile
sense of experience and
understanding of the
world, but also to create
a conceptual short circuit
between the dominant
sense of vision and the
suppressed sense
modality of touch.
The timeless task of
architecture is to
create embodied and
lived existential
metaphors that
concretise and
structure our being in
the world.
Architecture enables
us to perceive and
understand the
dialectics of
permanence and
change. In
memorable
experiences of
architecture, space,
matter and time fuse
into one singular
dimension, into the
basic substance of
being, that
penetrates
consciousness.
Architecture, as with
all art,is fundamentally
confronted with
questions of human
existence in space
and time, it expresses
and relates man’s
being in the world.
Architecture is deeply
engaged in the
metaphysical
questions of the self
and the world,
interiority and
exteriority, time and
duration, life and
death.
This book
discusses the
phenomenological
dimensions of
human experience
in architecture
through five sense
– visual, touch,
taste, sound, and
smell.
And how those
senses influence
the humans’
phenomenological
personal space
with instinct,
spirituality, and
unconsciousness.
It also discusses
the memorable
relationship
between
architecture and
those five senses,
materiality,
perception on
space, matter
within ourselves.

4. 4. Larkin, M., Watts,
S. and Clifton, E.
(2006). Giving
voice and making
sense in
interpretative
phenomenological
analysis.
Qualitative
Research in
Psychology, 3(2),
pp. 102-120.
To analyze two
complementary
commitments of
interpretative
phenomenological and
‘give voice’ to the
concerns of participants;
and the interpretative
requirement to
contextualize and ‘make
sense’ of these claims
and concerns from a
psychological
perspective.
To discuss in greater
detail of the
phenomenological and
interpretative aspects.
Interpretative
phenomenological
analysis’s
distinctiveness is
best captured in
terms of the
approach that it
offers, rather than as
a particular set of
analytic steps.
Qualitative methods in
psychology vary
epistemologically and
differ categorically.
Interpretative
phenomenological
analysis (IPA) gives a
set of ideas such as
idiographic,
phenomenological,
and interpretive
analysis.
IPA research is
associated with the
study of individual
persons in
psychology.
Observing
individualism
through multi-layered
questions
to bring out one’s
interpretative
phenomenological
analysis.

5. 5. Morris, D. (2004).
The sense of
space. Albany:
State University of
New York Press.
This paper relates to
Merleau-Ponty’s
investigation of spatiality
from the
Phenomenology of
Perception.
To argue that the
perceptional, or
phenomenological sense
of space is in depth,
which cannot be
measured scientifically
or the geometer’s ruler.
This depth is a dynamic
crossing of body and
world with emotions and
expressions.
Challenges,
arguments on
traditional accounts
of spatiality.
Defending and
elaborating the
positions of Merleau-
Ponty while
intimating several
developments and
comparisons coming
out of this account.
Traditional accounts of
space argue that
people come to a
sense of spatial depth
by reconstructing
representation of the
world latent in the
intrinsic resemblances
of sensory given or by
an inference to an
intelligible order
beyond sensation.
The alternative
argument is made by
Morris that Dynamic
systems theory can be
replaced the idea of
the world which we
are thrown into as into
a container. In
Dynamic systems
theory, spatiality,
perceptions, etc are
emerged from the
body’s own motion.
The body and world
are complicit in an
ordering that is at
once a priority. Body
and world form an
ambiguity irreducible
to exacted forms.
Assuming the style
of the
phenomenology,
vivid experiential
descriptions are
employed and
scientific case
studies are
involved.
By criticizing
scientific accounts
that explain the
motion of solid,
“Moving sense of
the body” is further
discussed.
He also developed
his statement
saying that people
are always
comported toward
and whose
nascent meanings
call them out of
themselves, by
comparing with
Dasein’s
constitutive
existentiale: care.

6. Mr.Mohd Hasmi Hussain
Masjid Al-Falah
T: 03-8011 6949
Questions at Masjid Al-Falah
Q: Mosques reflect the Islamic architecture. Do you really feel the spiritual sense when you enter the mosque? What kind
of feelings do you sense when you enter the mosque?
A: Of course, I do. This mosque gives me peace. I feel happy, cool and calm when I am in the mosque.
Q: According to Iqtisad (Balance), we have learnt that it can be reflected not only on the architecture, but also in our daily
life. People tend to seek balance in life. Whenever you feel down, do you feel comfort, as in spirituality, by praying Allah
in the mosque?
A: As a muslim, we pray 5 times a day to remind ourselves in teachings of god. Whenever I feel tired or anything, I feel
fresh again after praying in the mosque.
Q: Did the light and shadow affect your sensory in the mosque? If so, how does light and shadow affect your sense of
space inside the mosque?
A: Yes. If you see carefully, you realize the scale of the heights from the main entrance to the internal door and to the
interior space where the massive dome is located. This gives me the feeling of being tiny under the greatness of god.
Q: In your opinion, which form of the space gives you the most nearer connection to Allah or closest to God?
A: Mihrab, which is directed to Ka’ab. The place where we pray.

7. Q: The perceptions are abstract, observed, personal and perceived. Where is the space you feel most spiritual and what
makes you feel that?
A: The first one is Mihrab, where we pray. The second space is under the dome. At the center of dome, I feel
concentrated and showered by the divine power of god.
Q: Architects design spaces to evoke emotions through space, material, light and shadow etc. Do you really feel the
architecture of this mosque evoking your emotions? If so, what do you feel when you enter the mosque based on those
factors?
A: Yes. I feel the connection between greatness of god and myself. God created everything. In this mosque, I feel god’s
kindness, and forgiveness, and the natural lighting gives me the feeling of strength of god.
Q: Allah creates the universe, the perfect world. What do you think on this when you pray in the mosque? Do you really
feel the presence of god, more or less, in your mind?
A: Yes. The mosque is beautiful. I can feel the love of god, the perfection of god. And I feel near to god when I pray.
Q: How does materiality, texture and form make you feel the presence of god?
A: Concrete gives me the feeling of strength by god. Colorful decoration gives me the feeling of beauty created by god.
The difference in the heights gives me the feeling of greatness of god.
Q: From the bigger context outside to the inner, in your opinion, what does actually reflect the greatness of God?
A: The sky is the limit outside. From the outside, there is a double volume space at the entrance where the heights of
entry vary when you step in. And you see the dome, where you feel small , in comparison to god’s greatness.

8. Q: Which part of the mosque do you think has the most spiritual sense of space?
A: Mihrab and under the dome.
Q: Which part of the mosque would you like to modify to feel the presence of Allah?
A: Allah created perfect world. So, I do not want to modify anything since I can feel his presence everywhere in this
mosque.