A Nordic architect reads Madurai’s Meenakshi Temple — its gopurams, concentric enclosures, and the sacred Porthamarai Kulam where myth and water meet.
Projects
St Margaret’s Well, Edinburgh: A Gothic Wellhouse in Holyrood Park
St Margaret’s Well, Edinburgh, is a 15th-century Gothic wellhouse moved stone by stone to Holyrood Park in 1860, with rib-vaulting and a holy spring.
Halesi-Maratika Caves: A Primordial Interior in Nepal
Halesi-Maratika Caves in Khotang, eastern Nepal, read through a Nordic architect’s eye: descent into living rock, light, and a place sacred to Hindus, Buddhists and Kirat.
Fountain of Wealth: Suntec City’s Bronze Ring Fountain
The Fountain of Wealth in Suntec City, Singapore, is a silicon bronze ring on four columns, once the world’s largest fountain, with a wishing ritual at its core.
St Peter’s Well, Houston: A Holy Well House in Renfrewshire
St Peter’s Well, Houston, Renfrewshire, Scotland: a rare surviving holy well house, a tiny saddle-roofed freestone structure with a holy-water tradition.
Dunlavin, County Wicklow: Market House and St Nicholas’s Holy Well
An architect’s view of Dunlavin, County Wicklow: Richard Cassels’s Palladian Market House on Ireland’s widest square, and St Nicholas’s holy well at Tornant.