Van der Leeuw describes architecture as the house of God. Although he believes God is in all buildings, these dwellings also lack form and can be easily made profane. He sees a place of worship and a person’s home.
I agree with Van der Leeuw that many buildings are losing their sacredness. People have greatly separated religious spaces from nonreligious, day-to-day happenings.
Van der Leeuw also claoms that the larger the building, the more powerful and divine it appears. In connecting the size of a building with its level of sacredness, I am reminded of medieval architecture in France. With the emergence of Gothic cathedrals in the nation, it became a race between churches as to who could build the highest nave. With the invention of pointed arches, architects were suddenly able to build higher with the buildings mass being displaced down towards the ground rather than in the center of the arch like in the older, rounded ones (along with the help of flying buttresses attached to the clearstory from the outside).
Notre Dame cathedrals all over the country started to try and get their nave (one of the most sacred parts of the church) to be as tall as possible. Architects began to attach a higher level of importance and sacredness the higher they were able to build.
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