Religious places of worship often prompt a sense of reverence and deep reflection. For some these sacred buildings provide peace, and for others perhaps a bit of anxiety. Nonetheless, Swiss architect Mario Botta has designed and completed 22 religious buildings during his 50-year career as an architect. His first religious architectural project was a chapel at the Bigorio Capuchin monastery in 1966. Since then, Botta's spiritual spaces of worship have made a broad reach internationally, especially in Europe. Currently, three new religious buildings are under construction in China and Seoul.  

Throughout his career, Botta has designed synagogues, Catholic churches, and mosques. With this spectrum of open creative application Botta designs each building with distinct and unique attributes. However, common stylistic elements present themselves in his work. Botta plays with the materiality of each structure, allowing  materials to exude their own representation of weight in relation to the surround environment. From the outside in a beautiful contrast of "heaviness" and "lightness" flows throughout these sacred spaces. Botta allows for moments of sunlight and shadows to present itself within his buildings. Pathways and areas of quiet reflection exist thanks to the implementation of bold geometric forms, tempered walls, and carefully placed openings for light.

Harriet Thorpe of Wallpaper contemplates over these religious buildings and Botta's work. She shares these buildings appear more like "objects in landscape, like geometric charms or symbols cut out of natural materials."  Pulling influences from Giovanni Michelucci, Carlo Scarpa, and Le Corbusier Botta's design aesthetic combines using architecture to help define moments within a space to help elicit spiritual expressions and reverence. Currently, Botta's work is being exhibited at the Ringturum Exhibition Centre in Vienna. A collection of drawings, building studies, and photography showcases how the architect visualized these religious buildings. The exhibition "Sacral Spaces" will be on view until May 31, 2019.