“Ultimately, architecture is the art of petrified silence. When the clutter of construction work ceases, and the shouting of workers dies away, a building becomes a museum of a waiting, patient silence.” (Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin, Architecture and the Senses, page 55)

Meditation House
Location: Dutchtown Road, Town of Saugerties, Ulster County, Hudson Valley Forest, New York
Area: 400 sqft
Unbuilt project

The Meditation House is a program of a small art school design based in the Hudson Valley forest. It is designed to be built from pine-oak wood found on site and hempcrete, a natural biocomposite material, a mixture of hemp hurds, lime, and water.
In the tranquil setting of the Hudson Forest, the Meditation House is a stopping point where the students can encounter the petrified silence of the architecture and contemplate the beauty of the surrounding environment. Like a Buddhist temple, it establishes a muse atmosphere that makes us aware of our fundamental solitude.
The students can access the interior space for meditation through the two wooden doors on the North side. During the summer, the glass doors on the South side can turn 90 degrees and become a glass wall, which maintains the meditative and sturdiness when someone enters from either side.⁣