![Eighth graders share inspiration for house of worship designs]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1581624763/stuart/poihonyxvz5pbwmtnjea/housesofworship_grade8theology.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1581624763/stuart/poihonyxvz5pbwmtnjea/housesofworship_grade8theology.jpg","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_3/v1581624763/stuart/poihonyxvz5pbwmtnjea/housesofworship_grade8theology.jpg","width":800},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1581624763/stuart/poihonyxvz5pbwmtnjea/housesofworship_grade8theology.jpg","width":1000}])
Emily Lesinski's eighth grade theology class completed their unit on sacred architecture by designing their own houses of worship. Working in small groups, they came up with the type of house of worship and designed it in such a way to ensure all required elements of the particular house of worship were included. They had to consider space for worship and specific elements needed for a particular religion. The girls printed the house pieces in the MakerSpace and put them together like a 3D puzzle. Below is a reflection from Ellie Podell and Isabel Milley about their design and why they chose it:
Jewish Synagogue
My Group and I decided to design a Jewish synagogue. In our individual drafts, before we came together as a group, three out of the four of us had already designed a temple, so it made it a lot easier to add all our ideas together. Because most of the group isn’t as familiar with Judaism, we thought it would be fun to learn about another faith other than Christianity. When we chose to design a Jewish synagogue, we didn’t want to make just any old synagogue, we wanted to think outside the box. The shape of our synagogue is in the shape of a Hamsa, which symbolizes the hand of God. By having the Hamsa it reminds us as we enter that God is always here and loves us. That is why we named our synagogue the Synagogue of Love, בית כנסת של אהבה (Beit Knesset shel ahava), which means Synagogue of Love in Hebrew. - Ellie Podell
Buddist Temple
Our house of worship was a Buddhist temple named after the lotus flower, a symbol of peace and tranquility. We then translated the word lotus into Pali, the Buddhist language. We tried to incorporate as much greenery as we could and make the building a simple yet elegant one. We had a center building, the Chedi, leading to four gardens with a walkway going through it leading to public and sacred worship spaces as well as the dining hall. Our group chose to create a Buddhist temple because it enabled us to learn more about a religion we knew very little about. - Isabel Milley