Constellations Thesis Book by Nesrin Zidan

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Furthermore, it is also rooted in
ancient astrology to align houses with the
direction of the sun and determine azimuth
angles. For ancient societies, this entailed
a thorough examination of the stars’
motions across the sky and how those
motions affected life on Earth. Most people
took their religious beliefs from there,
and even today, the architecture of our religious
structures is based on the stars in
the skies above.
The Pantheon is another example
of this. Only the oculus in the dome’s center
provided illumination for the interior’s
breath-taking decor. Due to the temple’s
placement of the cardinal points, the sun’s
rays are guaranteed to strike the entryway
at various angles as it rises or sets, moving
around the dome and illuminating the
beautifully carved panels that decorate the
inside. This layout may have been influenced
by the Roman sundial, which raises
the question of whether our structures
would have been constructed in the other
direction if we had occupied much of the
southern hemisphere.
By experimenting with light and
shadow, observing nature to mimic its
motions, and establishing what at first
glance appeared to be pagan practices into
useful logical processes, these approaches
assisted us in rediscovering design basics.
Is “green construction” not only a contemporary
adaptation of traditional design?
Did Louis Kahn not include spirituality
in the Salk Institute’s architecture, placing
the summer solstice sunset between the
two constructed sides? (Fatima, 2022).
Fig. 4.1. Illustration of the night sky
from the oculus