Hi folks
What do you like about Kingdom Halls?
I am not talking about the software i.e., the people, the pure language, the music, the smell of lavender as the toilet door swings to, or the obedient rustle of bible pages. I mean the buildings themselves, designs, locations, furnishings, security etc.
And what do these things say about the organisation itself?
To start this off, here's a couple of things about Khalls in the UK.
They have no windows and very low ceilings
The non-windows thing is horrible to see from outside. The point however is security. Khalls are always being torched by unhappy shunned family members and unstable people from the local territory who decide they don't like their bible studies any more. Well JWs WILL be persecuted - that's life. No windows combined with low ceilings means that the air gets dead fuggy during meetings unless you buy an air handling system (which can be a disproportionate part of the budget). That's the cost of making enemies by shunning, and of attracting the disaffected members of society in the first place.
We were told that our hall would be having no windows because it would keep the cost down, and then we would not be tempted to look outside. As the hall was built on an industrial estate next to a cemetery I don’t think this was REALLY the reason. Who would want to look out the windows anyway? The place was dead.
I wonder if there isn't something religious in it too. The only real light in a kingdom hall comes from the lights, especially from the platform lights (which can cook an egg on the PO's non-stick dome). No light comes from the 'outside world' at all. Many anglican/catholic churches have few or no windows. And those they do have are stained glass picturing saints or biblical impressions. Hence, you can have a little light, but it has to come through the filter of church understanding. More interesting, but it's not so different from the platform lights at the Kingdom hall.
philo