CARAVANSERAI OF SOULS: A SPIRITUAL RETREAT

Abstract

This thesis examines how architecture can become a catalyst for emotional grounding, introspection, and self-discovery through spatial experience rather than symbolic or institutional meaning. The research investigates how atmosphere, material, light, sound, and above all spatial rhythm can evoke psychological and existential transformation, drawing on the phenomenological insights of Bachelard, Pallasmaa, Zumthor, and sacred-space theory. The study further explores how performative practices, music, movement, poetry, and collective rituals, act as embodied mediums of awareness, resonance, and healing. Through an interdisciplinary framework of environmental psychology, phenomenology, and Sufi spatial principles, the thesis proposes a contemporary retreat that orchestrates transitions from the outer world to inner stillness through thresholds, gradients of privacy, and sensorycontrolled environments. The retreat is conceived as a spatial sequence that enables selfreflection, grounding, and emotional renewal, where architecture operates not as a symbolic enclosure, but as a performative medium engaging the human body and psyche. The project argues that space can cultivate inner transformation and existential awareness through sensory depth, spatial hierarchy, and temporal experience, ultimately positioning architecture as a vessel for the reconstruction and recovery of the self.