"Even Modern Churches Are Built to Instill the Fear of God"

From WIRED Magazine article, "DESIGN: Even Modern Churches Are Built to Instill the Fear of God":

....Take the church at the Sao Paolo Parish Complex (interior shown here)...Parishioners pass through the doors and gather under an imposing concrete box that’s almost as big as the church itself. The hollow structure hovers disconcertingly over the floor, without a single column in sight. “I tried to give a spiritual sense of life inside the building,” Massimiliano says. “You have something that is simple but also complex—complexity to make a human emotion.” The effect is transformative: The congregation feels closer to otherworldly powers, and the space is just ominous enough to keep them in line. link