Bodhinyanarama Monastery by Tennent Brown Architects

ArchiPro Project Summary - Bodhinyanarama Monastery: A spiritual haven designed for diverse communities, featuring a meditation hall for 30 to 80 participants and larger gatherings for 300, constructed in stages with sustainable materials to foster mindfulness and connection.

Title:: Bodhinyanarama Monastery
Architect:: Tennent Brown Architects
Category:: Community/; Public and Cultural

This complex acts as a spiritual focus for people from diverse cultural backgrounds including Thai, Sri Lankan, Lao, Cambodian and European. A meditation hall was required to serve the needs of the resident monks, accommodate 30 to 80 people for meditation and teaching a few times a week, and provide shelter for the larger community of 300 on celebration days 3 or 4 times a year. The design seeks to create a deepening series of enclosures into the shrine space to encourage mindfulness and calm, creating a physical journey to aid and symbolise the spiritual one.

The buildings were designed to be achieved in stages as funds became available - each part laid the foundation for the next. The type of construction was chosen for cost, buildability by the community, and the feel of natural materials. Lightweight materials from sustainable sources were used wherever possible.

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