Gathered in Daylight: Jørn Utzon’s Bagsværd Church and Glenn Murcutt’s Australian Islamic Centre

In the past two millennia, the world has seen a marked cultural shift in the use of daylight in buildings, away from the magic symbolism of earlier ages. In contemporary masterpieces of architecture, the light of the sun and sky is used as a means of connecting communities, establishing a sense of place and time and drawing people’s attention to the beauty of nature. Occasionally, light even serves to quietly subvert traditional notions of power and divinity. This is exemplified in two great buildings that, despite being located on opposite sides of the globe, share many common features: Jørn Utzon’s Bagsværd Church near Copenhagen, and Glenn Murcutt’s Australian Islamic Centre in Melbourne.