Architecture, Culture, Spirituality 7

Architecture, Culture, Spirituality (ACS) members Julio Bermudez (CatholicUniversity of America, Washington DC), Norman Crowe (Professor Emeritus,Notre Dame School of Architecture), and Paul Tesar (North Carolina State University)co-chaired and organized the 2015 ACS symposium, which explorednature and the otherwise ordinary that form the spiritual foundations of architectureand culture. The symposium was held at Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, NM,from June 18-21. Past ACS symposia have focused on various themes revolvingaround the ideas of creating and understanding sacred places.This year’s focus allowed researchers to discuss and critique nature’s importantrole and unraveling what has become “ordinary” as captured by Jalalal-Din Rumi’s quote: “Things are such, that someone lifting a cup, or watching the rain, petting a dog or singing, just singing – could be doing as much forthis universe as anyone.” Of the fifty abstracts submitted, twenty-three madeit through the blind peer-review process for presentation. Intentionally, ACSsymposia have remained small in order to allow the formation of an intimatecommunity of presenters, keynote speakers, and a small number of non-presentingattendees ...