Archisteem 33: Friendly Architecture Curation - Wesak Day Special

in #archisteem6 years ago

Today's curated project: Peace & Buddha

It has been a while since I updated my personal Archisteem Curation with so much going on for me these two weeks. Today, in conjunction with Wesak Day, I would like to curate about two Buddhism related buildings that inspired me.

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The first revamp project is led by Tadao Ando a renown, Pritzker Prize winner, Japanese architect and took place at the Makomanai Takino Cemetery in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo. The project is a cemetery which covered approximately 180 hectares and was completed in 2015.


In general, both of the projects bring a sense of serenity to my mind just by looking. I could feel the calmness and peacefulness of the place which is part of my principle for my architectural design as well. I love the minimalistic feel and with such simple finishing to bring out the Zen-ness of the place.

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The first project was Tadau Ando’s work which was a unique project from what I read. The huge 44 feet tall Buddha statue was there since 15 years ago. With its mere size which was clearly out of scale from the context, it did not blend harmoniously with the surrounding. Thus, the client decided to hire T.Ando to revamp the place while retaining the existing Buddha sculpture.

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Tadao Ando possesses a great sense of place which I found fascinating. The space he created was embedded with serenity and simplistic concrete finishing. The concept of blending the Buddha to the site was to create an artificial hill that envelops the statue. The hill will change according to the season with purple lavenders flourish during the summer and pure white during the winter. A ‘head-out Buddha’ as stated by Ando, with a 40 meter tunnel connecting to the statue and a rotunda embracing the Buddha. The poetic experience with people going through a low ceiling height tunnel and welcome by the Buddha with blue sky as the background was amazing.

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The second project is led by Archstudio a local Chinese architect firm and took place in Tangshan, Hebei, China. The project is a Buddhist Shrine which covered approximate 169m² and was completed in 2017.


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The second project is a relatively smaller scale shrine. I love how the shrine blended well with the nature plus to human scale approach which makes the shrine much approachable. The design connects well with the surrounding nature with some designated openings. This creates a spectrum of privacy for the visitors to enjoy the shrine. Some spaces are more secluded while some are open up. This allows different religious activities to be held within the same building.

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The wise choice of building materials also helps to shape the sense of harmony for the building. Concrete formwork was used with 3cm wide strips forming a texture like wood. Smooth terrazzo is used for the interior floor while the outdoor used cement grouting with white pebbles. This cleverly provides a seamless segregation of indoor and outdoor spaces. As for the furniture, most of them were solid woods which connect well with the surrounding woods.

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One of its special features was the skylight that directs the sunlight on the Buddha statue. This creates a sense of grandness for the praying space. In overall, the shrine showcases the principle of Buddhism well which very much focuses on the inner value and embraces the nature.

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Happy Wesak Day and I hope you like these 2 curations of mine. Drop some comments if you want to share some interesting shrine buildings with the community :)


Source of images used and reference article. Click here & here


Hope you enjoy the curation. If you have any projects that you wished to be curated, do drop a comment to me. Any critics and suggestions about my curation are welcome!


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This is an #archisteem post.

A new tag that is to curate our existing built environment and also future built environment development. Want to know more? Read here.

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Really love the effect the outside has and the inside looks really fancy, something I would love for a house.

The treatment for in and out with different details will determine the house’s ambiance :) that would be cool to have such Zen house.

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