Theories and Models

The 4 Domains of Spiritual Well-being

Attention Restoration Theory (A.R.T)

The 4 Domains of Spiritual Well-Being (SWB), is a model used to understand the relationship between spiritual wellbeing and other aspects of health. The paper details the importance of one’s relationship with the self, with community, with nature and with the transcendent. Although inter-related Fisher determines the independence of spiritual health from the mental and the social, through it’s “4-dimensional nature” and its ability to permeate our relationship with ourselves, our community and larger belief systems (Fisher, 2011).

The following proposal will hope to engage these elements of the self and the community, to create a space in the natural environment for contemplation and reflection. Through activating these 3 domains within the design, areas for both individual and community engagement will equip users with the resources and spaces to facilitate transcendental experiences.

The Attention Restoration Theory (ART) discusses the positive effects of being in nature on restoring attention. Kaplan and Kaplan (2005) highlight preferences when determining the restorative potential of an environment. These preferences include coherence and legibility, which help people understand a landscape, and complexity and mystery, which encourage people to explore the landscape. This balance of understanding and exploration helps people to restore attention expended during the day (Kaplan, 2005).

These methods of understanding and exploration are to be utilised in the following design to encourage “soft fascination” and restore the attention of users. The design will also aim to further ART to address what will be termed “spiritual restoration”. When attention no longer needs to be directed outward, the design will encourage users to direct attention inward, addressing the self and the transcendant (Fisher, 2011).

Triangle of Supportive Environments Theory of Gerotranscendence

P. Grahn L. Tornstam

The Triangle of Supporting Environments attributes physical environments to certain states of mental well-being. The triangle model works along a gradient of resources from the base to the top. Those with lower mental resources will require a less active environment while those with higher mental resources have to capacity to participate more in the environment (Bengtsson & Grahn, 2014).

When considering spiritual well-being, “directed inwards involvement” is a motif the design will try to engage when addressing these moments of spiritual restoration. Areas of activity and organisation will also help to engage the communal domain of SWB or the personal relation dimension of Gerotranscendance.

The Theory of Gerotranscendance addresses the relationship of people and their environment amid old age and the approach of death. Similar to Fisher’s 4 Domains of SWB, gerotranscendance involves 3 dimensions of the self, social relations and the cosmic. When discussing cosmic dimension Tornstam mentions the ability of nature to facilitate “at-onement”, a feeling of oneness with the universe. These teaching occur in “everyday experiences” of nature and “positive solitude”. (Tornstam, 2005)

“I see trees, buds, and I see it blossom, and I see how the leaves are coming—I see myself in the leaves.” (Tornstam, 2005) out-going involvement active participation passive participation directed inward involvement individual activity organisation

Similar to The Triangle of Supportive Environments (Bengtsson & Grahn, 2014)., states of mind to facilitate these three dimensions sit along a spectrum of individual, activity and organisation. These rules will be applied to activate these 3 dimensions of self, social relations and the cosmic in the design.

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User Group

The community of Fiskerihavnen consists of a combination of “fisherman, boat enthusiasts and artists” (Samir, 2022), creating an identity that is well represented in the urban environment. Much like the community the urban environment is laid back, self-organised and inviting, however there is little immediate greenspace for residents apart from the Nordhavnstippen, 0.5km away.

The Danish church community is seeing a big shift in demographic as church spaces become spaces for youth and community, not necessarily for the practice of faith. In a conversation about the Tiny Church site in Nordhavn, Johanne Dal-Lewkovitch (2022) discusses how church spaces should encourage these “new communities”.

On a vacant block in the middle of Fiskerihavnen, Kirkefondet and the Hans Egedes Parish of Østerbro have been given permission to erect a temporary church, to act as both an extension of the Østerbro church and to service the community of Fiskerihavnen. The attitude towards this new church space is that it should “expand the possibilities” (Kirkefondet, 2022) of the existing church and with this it should accommodate alternative uses and users.

Despite this the proposal and the selected design show no mention of input or council from local community members. It is flexible and open to alternate uses, but does little in engaging the community that it is built within.

“It is about how to be a church today, where we must not be afraid to break with the idea of what a church is. We must, in the most literal sense, push away walls and break up spaces to create frameworks that encourage new communities,”

(Johanne Dal-Lewkovitch, 2022)

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