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Meditation Crater
Young Architects Competition proposal with Ju So Young, Bak Ji Yoon
Description
Allihies in the past was one of the biggest copper mining village in the world. The existing architecture on the project site served as a housing for a water pump that once helped miners to work underground and carry minerals up to the surface. However, due to technological innovations, this site has lost its purpose. Meditation and water is the main theme that penetrates this project. We bring mindfullness through various encounters with water and nature. There are three significant craters surrounding our site. The overall approach to designing the architecture focused on transforming the craters into a center for meditation while respecting nature and heritage. Wherever the building touches the terrain or the previous structure, it meets at a point rather than a surface. Building materials were also selected to blend into the surrounding preserving the original atmosphere.
Software Used
Rhinocerous 6, Grasshopper, Vray 5, Aobe CC 2022, AutoCAD
Meditation Mine
1. RECEPTION
Visitors can access the center after they go through a long passageway that cuts through the mountain. The first building that visitors encounter is the reception building. Its a monolithic building wrapped in a semi-transparent material that acts as a reception and a cafe. The structure almost floats on our first crater, filled with water cascading down from the yoga deck.
2. LOOP
The loop is a circulation plan that binds the programs together. The structure is lightly bolted on the rocky terrain and is enveloped in a louver facade whose angle restricts or allows vision. This depends on which way the visitors are walking. As they are entering the center, the visions are restricted to aid the meditation. When they are leaving, vice versa.
3. YOGA DECK
The original structure was partly filled with water to create a shallow waterscape. Located on the middle of the Loop, the louver facade lifts up and becomes a canopy revealing the scenery where the water reflects the machine building giving visitors a calming atmosphere fit for meditation.
4. HOTEL AND SPA
The building consists of two parts. A hotel and a outdoor spa built on the widest crater of the three, and is also filled with water pumped from the inserted modern water pump inside the machine house. The visitors first encounter water physically when they enter the spa. The hotel sits on the structure that is leaning on the rocky terrain providing shade and atmosphere. The profile of the building is minimal relative to its size since most of it is covered in the crater.
5. MINE ENTRANCE
It is the final destination of the Loop. Deepest crater of the three, the entrance to the old mine was transformed in to a meditation hive. The newly built structure redirects light and rain into the hole letting visitors experience the mine interact with nature. It also acts as a viewing desk in to the heart of the mine. Here visitors can
meditate without the interference from the outside world. The pathway has a helical slope with a slit that provides minimal light until they reach the bottom.
6. INDEPENDANT SUITES
The independant suites are for visitors wanting time with themselves. A pathway that was created just for the residents carries them to their suites which are located on the side of the hill giving panoramic view. Every room is designed as a seperate volume; each vol ume serves unique
purpose. Uniquely, evey module interacts with water. The depth varies through the span of the suite gving caried experiences and interactions with water.
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