The Relationship Between Architectural Form and Meaning in Santa Theresia Catholic Church, Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

As a reaction to the phenomenon of the desacralization of Catholic church architecture after the Second Vatican Council, many studies have examined the relationship between the liturgical activities and the architectural form of the Catholic church. However, the research that addressed the issue about the meaning of Catholic Church's architectural form is still a rarity. This study aims to explicate the meaning of architectural form in one of the oldest Catholic churches in Jakarta, Indonesia, namely the Santa Theresia Church. The analytical steps were to describe all the composition and property in each scope of the building, then interpret the meaning that is expressed based on the theory of meanings in architecture. Based on this theory, it can be seen whether the meaning displayed by the Santa Theresia church architecture tends to be perceptual, cultural, or ideological. The analysis showed that the dominance of the Catholic symbol supported by site composition, building mass, the inner space and building elements act as the basis for the appearance of the divine ideological meaning. In addition to enriching the realm of substance and methods of architectural knowledge, this research is also useful for practitioners and stakeholders involved in the design of the Catholic Church