Nightlife spaces are a form of escape from the mundane, and where people can explore other modes of being. These spaces often encourage and challenge what the respective society considers “normal” during the day. To encounter this exact phenomenon, my design juxtaposes the two environments in which accepted activities and illicit activities occur – the church and the nightclub.
A close comparison conducted between the church space and nightlife reveals that there are many similarities in both space and activity. Philosopher Emilie Durkheim’s concept of collective consciousness can be seen as a linkage between the two - the collective consciousness of society used to be religion as a common belief, as society becomes more secular, this collective consciousness becomes more diluted – but many do find common worship in the even more abstract feeling obtained from being in nightclubs and the phenomenological experience the environment evokes. The design proposes a network of adapted churches - the re-functionalization of peripheral urban structures as night time escape spots. The design strategy to convert these into nightclubs in the evening uses simple intervening methods in order to highlight the similarities between the two, and the ease of conversion between two seemingly different programs.
