[Kasperspirit]

Hi...
We are currently in the first steps of putting plans to a Religious theme park that aims to attract people into a sacred location where you can explore the message of religions.
We are speaking of Taoism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Ancient Paganism (Greek, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Persians, and Romans).

However, we come up into some problem which is how to unite the zones.
The reason is that each civilization has its own style and mood of architectural and landscaping designs.
For example, there is no way you can link a Buddhist sacred landscape to a roman landscape or to Islamic landscapes and so on...
And this is the case with each zone.

So, we have come up with some options, that I would hope you can help me in verifying the most suitable one...

a- many refer to the crisis of the globe being Religion made... that religion is the cause of terror and war....
So, we propose that the adventure is to let the person pass through all these different worlds that seem very different in appearance, but during the experience it is our goal to create shocking zones that show that religions carry the same message...
for example, there are lots of common beliefs between Islamic and Christian traditions...

b- Merge the zones together, so that they all seem as one piece...
But we just fear that this will lead that the heritage of one religion will be ruined on the expense of another, and thus the experience may not be very truthful...

Thanks for your cooperation in both ways...
Cheers...

[agla]

Honestly, this is a complex design program whether or not it is complex to build. You really need a lead designer who is able to make order out of the complexity or you need the sponsors to have already done so.

If you are the lead designer, you really need to get in a consultant who is strong in making order out of complex programs. You might be the best guy to design the built work, but these are not questions that the lead designer of such a project would ask.

Maybe this is an amatuer project with next to no budget, I don't know. But, if it is not, any graduate from an accredited landscape architecture degree program will be well trained in the design process and will be able to develop a program that will work. It certainly can be done either by blending or by theme areas. Either way, you need someone to make the overall program cohesive.

If you are the lead designer, put some money into the consultant. If you are the developer, hire a qualified designer with a history of organizing complex design projects such as theme parks, zoos, or museums. You don't need to have them design out all the details, but establish a schematic plan that you can further develop.

If you are stuck with having to get through this on your own, write out all of the objectives you want the project to meet. Then write out the experience you want someone to get from each of these objectives. List out the physical requirement it will take to make that experience happen for each objective.
Then make a schematic plan (a diagram using circles to represent each piece- bubble diagram) that organizes the ideal relationship between the different parts.
Eventually you will need to adjust that ideal schematic to the realities of the site. That is also a bubble diagram.

First you have to choose whether you are separating or blending the religions. That is a philosophic decision which you just have to make. My opinion is that if you are comparing similarities it would be more effective to organize by those subjects and work the comparisons of the religions into the themes. Isolating them leaves it up to the user having to come up with the comparison on his own.

Your first question was to do with a design detail of a specific vignette. That tells me that you are designing backwards. you should be working from concept to detail, not the other way around.

[Kasperspirit]

thanks agla...
this really helped me alot...

[jshilan]

Are these real projects that you are working on or are they studio projects at school? Or are they real projects that you are working on as a studio exercise?

Because if they are real, and you are the lead person on this, I'm moving to China and taking charge of the New Olympic Stadium Project. Maybe I'll work on a new hotel complex in the United Arab Emirates too. How hard can it be?

By the way, if I am completely off base about the validity of this project - I would focus more on your top 5 religions, not too many issues with the Ancient Pagans these days.

[papercutter]

I kind of like Paganland. I wonder if that's what the data analysts think when I check "other" for my religious preference?

I have to know- is this a real project, or a conceptual exercise? The interplay of the sections seems so critical to the success of the project, I can't imagine an investor or principal would turn that over to an outside party without making his or her intent crystal clear.

[jshilan]

All I know is that I am going to get in the Zone and listen to a little Linkin Park.

[Fine Edge]

If this is an actual real, fully developed, open to the paying public, meant to be permanent, then I would take Agla's advice and maybe try to find / hire someone with a deep knowledge in world religious history and how they can all be tied together.

[Lanelle]

I agree with Agla's advice.
Also, a consultant with theme park experience will help with knowing how to make these transitions as well as things like how many restrooms are needed, how wide to make walkway areas and a myriad of other elements that will contribute to success of the project. At the very least, the people who are brainstorming about this park should have visited a number of other theme parks to gain perspective on how and why various aspects work well or not. Busch Gardens Old Country comes to mind as a park that has lots of transitions.

[tfld]

According to his/her profile, we are speaking to a "landscape architect."

[agla]

... also using metric measurements and in zone 10. This is someone outside of the US or Canada, so "landscape architect" is likely not a licensed profession and probably means the same thing as landscape designer - one who designs landscapes.

Actually, few people in North America know what a landscape architect is.

If I had to guess, I'd go with New Zealand.

[Kasperspirit]

hey everyone..
sorry of the fuss i did..
lol


I am a landscape designer...
Here in my country, they call us landscape architects...
dont know what they call you somewhere else...
my specialization is a mixture between agronomy (agricultural engineering) and architectural engineering, so we end up called landscape architects.
I am from Lebanon, if you know this place...
It was so famous in the last month... lol...
what ever it is...

this project is a univeristy graduation project...
i am still an undergradute..
well i finished the past thursday but i have to offer a thesis about a theme park...
our projects dont necessarily be executed for real, but the idea and for me to pass, is that everything has to be so real.
our graduation projects are always supervised by the ministry of tourism and they decide if a project seemed reasonable, (Not tooooooooo expensive) then they would go on execute it on the land...
which is not my case i suppose... lol...

i am working according to agla's advice which has really helped me alot, and i even advanced my reseraches.

It is very complicated to find some perfect merging point between these zones, so instead i am thinking of this...

the world thinks that each religin is alone, that each religin is different...
as if everyone lives in a different island that has got no relation to another.

So, it will be perfect to put into plan what people think and what religions say.
Religions never said that all people are the same.
Religion doesnt care for what something looks like.
But they all shared similar beleifs...
So, we have created so far an artificial lake and all these zones will be separated islands that will be connected through 2 routes.

1- by bridges.
2- by a very narrow and somehow scary path.
and this is planned for some reasons.

1- and this will be a safe pathway, a zone where common beleifs will be carved on walls, statue books etc... a zone that has been chosen by the prophets.

2- the zone describing the pathway led by human beings... so narrow, full of dead nature, crimson colors and crucified people.

This will intensify deep thought in people looking around.
it will be declared to them that these religious fights were not called upon by Religion, but Man invented and created them.

More over, more of this unity will be created by the lake, where water plays a major role.
The use of water in all religions being a source of unity between them and being very sacred, the water will be telling a very beautiful story.
like when the battles of man block the water passage from a certain area, you can look somewher else and see that God has summoned the water to gush from somewhere else, from Jesus' Cave, from below the church, from the rocks at Kadesh and so the lake is linked from various parts till it embraces all these islands together.

I would like to see any comments about this and tell me if i did anything wrong...
your support really helps me...