The Temple of all Saints Project

The resilience of the material, the flexibility of the connecting units and the object's weight define the behaviour of the structure. For example, it does not hold a constant form. It easily changes shape under one's fingers (it is best to wear leather gloves)-it can be a circle, a tube, a mushroom shape and so on. Changes in shape can be accomplished smoothly (because of the object's inertia due to its weight) and evenly. For maximum visual effect, I prefer to use a piece ofwindow glass as a demonstration surface, because it keeps friction to a minimum. All topological transformations are possible with unbelievable ease. The material and resultant forms allow many unexplored possibilities. Fig. 5. August Lanin, The Temple of All Saints Project, architectural model, 1989. Elements of the traditional Russian Church architecture are combined with modern technological ideas in the design of this church. THE TEMPLE OFALL SAINTS PROJECT August Lanin, Crablestroiteley Str., 23, Bldg. 1, Apt. 28, St. Petersburg 199226, Russia. Received 7December 1992. I created the Temple ofAll Saints Project for a competition announced by the Russian Orthodox Church that was devoted to the 1,OOOth anniversary ofbaptism in Russia. I used elements of traditional Russian Church architecture of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the design of this work, for example, in its compositional scheme, silhouette, hip roof structure, and module system, which was based on the architecture of wooden northern temples (Fig. 5). However, modern technological ideas have also been applied here. The modern elements provided me, as the designer , with the opportunity to recreate the "church's role in the synthesis of the arts" (in the words ofP. Florensky) and to unite the elements of religious service into a single, impressive whole on a new level and by new means. Because light and the human voice are the main components of religious service and carry so much symbolic meaning, my task was to combine them in my design. The architecture itself had to support these components, which is why I designed the hip roof to be transparent. Colour light-musical lamps are designed to be installed inside the ceiling, and an 18-channel electronic sound analyzer will synchronously translate the singing of participants into light and moving colours. Blue, pale blue and white will be produced by high frequencies; green, yellow and orange by middle frequencies; red and violet by low frequencies. The model of the temple, where a recording of All-Night Watch by Rachmaninov was played during its display, has lived up to my expectations. I believe the synthesis of arts with modern technology allows unlimited applications , including complex, aesthetic problem-solving. Abstracts 445 ...