A

AIA CES Credits
AV Office
Abstract Publication
Academic Affairs
Academic Calendar, Columbia University
Academic Calendar, GSAPP
Admissions Office
Advanced Standing Waiver Form
Alumni Board
Alumni Office
Anti-Racism Curriculum Development Award
Architecture Studio Lottery
Assistantships
Avery Library
Avery Review
Avery Shorts

S

STEM Designation
Satisfactory Academic Progress
Scholarships
Skill Trails
Student Affairs
Student Awards
Student Conduct
Student Council (All Programs)
Student Financial Services
Student Health Services at Columbia
Student Organization Handbook
Student Organizations
Student Services Center
Student Services Online (SSOL)
Student Work Online
Studio Culture Policy
Studio Procedures
Summer Workshops
Support GSAPP
Close
This website uses cookies as well as similar tools and technologies to understand visitors' experiences. By continuing to use this website, you consent to Columbia University's usage of cookies and similar technologies, in accordance with the Columbia University Website Cookie Notice Group 6
Arch montiel demonchaux jeantzeng fa23 01

Fluid Sanctity

Fluid Sanctity is a church intervention project that aims to recognize different approaches to spirituality. Located in Harlem’s Little Mexico, the existing Baptist church faces a decline in attendance, leading to the underutilization of its space. Meanwhile, the church’s front staircase has been popular and highly utilized—essentially a street furniture on which people casually rest, regardless of the church’s service hours—embodying a generosity absent in regular storefronts. Leveraging this generosity, the project aims to provide more of such hospitality to serve the neighborhood. With the existing staircase extending itself to eventually form a Mexican pyramid, the church space humbly decreases in volume to accommodate other programs, including a scuba diving school offering an alternative spiritual experience to baptism, a water treatment plant purifying the facility’s water as well as serving the nearby neighborhood, and an abundance of public toilets enjoying a view of a waterfall, with the waterfall filtering out noises for meditation. By incorporating facilities that serve a larger population and providing various sensory experiences with water, this project redefines the conventional sacred space, transforming the church into a hub where diverse activities coexist, fostering a sense of community and spiritual connection amidst the urban landscape.