Habemus VOLUME! Join Archis and Nieuwe Instituut for the festive launch of VOLUME 67: WORSHIPING at Athenaeum in Amsterdam, organized with our co-hosts Iwan Baan and FALSEWORK. Our new issue examines how spirituality intersects with architecture, design, politics, and culture across diverse regions. It features global case studies—from universal prayer spaces and Mayan wellness rituals to revived religious music and architecture.

Launch programme

Join us for a launch in which architecture and spirituality converge. Photographer Iwan Baan presents his contribution to VOLUME – a triptych of the San Pietro in Rome and two of its reinterpretations: one in Oudenbosch, the Netherlands and one in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast, revealing the power of worship at any scale through San Pietro. FALSEWORK introduces their Urban Design Tarot – a playful tool to break through design gridlock and reawaken creative thinking about cities and complexity. Plus: snacks, drinks, a chance to play the Tarot game yourself and the opportunity to browse Athenaeum‘s extensive magazine selection!

About VOLUME 67: WORSHIPING

VOLUME 67: WORSHIPING explores new and changing religious and spiritual practices around the world. Religions historically have formed the most inspiring client base for architecture and design worldwide. Whereas it was long expected that religion would eventually fade out with the growing importance of wealth and liberalism, the opposite is happening. Christianity and Islam are still growing worldwide. New and often hybridized forms of worshiping in mindfulness, wellness culture, and other bodily practices are sprouting. The realignment between religion and political life in India, Russia, and the United States makes exploring the contemporary role of religious life all the more urgent. When new versions of spiritual life are explored everywhere, the central question for an architecture medium remains: does this still relate to design and architecture?

Reports and photo essays from around the globe

VOLUME 67: WORSHIPING brings inspiring reports from new and changing spiritual life in as many forms as possible around the globe: from building universal houses of prayer in Berlin, Hong Kong, and airports worldwide, to the bleakness of Mayan wellness worship in Tulum, forgotten religious dance moves in Paris, new church music that engages its architecture, the architecture of the dead on different continents, the return of Chinese god Guandi on the coattails of the Belt and Road Initiative in the Indian Ocean, feng shui design, Mormon underpinnings of Silicon Valley’s attempts at new community designs, the hybridization of indigenous belief systems and Christian faith in Nigeria, to the reversed missionary work of international Christian communities to bring faith back to the Netherlands, and much more. VOLUME 67: WORSHIPING includes photo essays by Iwan Baan, Bram Petraeus, Marieke van den Heuvel, Andreas Duscha, and others.

Contributors to VOLUME 67

Contributions by Ana María Gutiérrez, Andreas Duscha, Annie Schneider, David J. Cross, Dongmei Yao, Erez Levanon, Guus Beumer, Iwan Baan, Jacques-Marie Ligot, Jeanne Halgren Kilde, Jess Myers, Kuen Malvezzi, Lou Mo, Madelon Grant, María Mazzanti, Marieke van den Heuvel, Mattha Busby, Michelle Gulickx, Mohamad Nahleh, Musquiqui Chihying, Natalia Guarnizo, Pam Virada, Paulo Tavares, Setareh Noorani, Sonder, Stephan Petermann, Susana Pérez Arias, Tosin Oshinowo, Yotam Sion.

Practical information

Date: Thursday June 26
Time: 17.00 – 19.00
Location: Athenaeum Nieuwscentrum, Spui 14-16, 1012 XA Amsterdam
Language: English
Tickets: Entry is free. Register via Nieuwe Instituut to let us know you´re joining.
Program:

• 17.00 – 17.30: Walk-in
• 17.30 – 17.50: Talks by Stephan Petermann, Iwan Baan, and Falsework
• 17.50 – 19.00: Snacks and drinks, opportunity to play the urban design tarot game by Falsework