Tranquil – Challenge to design an urban meditation center

Tranquil – Challenge to design an urban meditation center

THE PRACTISE OF MEDITATION
Meditation, a process synonymous with achieving a mental state of tranquillity or training the mind to achieve alternate consciousness, is one that is an age-old tradition followed in various parts of the world. The oldest traces of it can be found in Indian records dating to 1500 BCE, although the origin of the practice is still debated upon. Many famous individuals are credited across cultures for propagating and creating different paths and methods to achieving this state of mind. This practice spread around the world and to the west around the 1700s when the scriptures were transported to various places containing references to these meditation techniques. Some of these include famous ones such as the Bhagavad Gita, Buddhist scriptures and the Upanishads. For a long time, this practice was only seen as of importance for philosophers and their studies, until the 20th century when a prominent figure gave a speech about the practice in the US and the practice became a widely adopted one.

BRINGING MEDITATION IN CITIES
Brief: The challenge is to provide an urban facility to aid the residents and visitors in having a meditation space.The focus of this architecture competition is to blend the facility’s exteriors with the cityscape but make the interiors disconnected from the city or even reality. The built form must be able to connect with the people, through its form, layout or spaces. Sustainable strategies must be employed to create a pure and natural environment inside the centre. The material palette must be selected consciously to suit the needs of the comfort of the occupants and aid a calm ambience for meditation activity. Noise must be managed for silent interior spaces.The challenge here would be making the space a neutral and barrier-free space to accommodate a wide range of people. The facility must distance the facets that need to be disconnected from the outside while keeping it less constricting can prove beneficial in creating an environment that is peaceful that filters out the city life.