view of Meditation Hall from Administration porch : Won Dharma Center by hanrahan Meyers architects

hMa is pleased to announce that the Won
Dharma Center has won an Honor Award from the AIA NY Chapter.  Won Dharma Center is a 28,000 square-foot spiritual and recreational retreat
in Claverack, New York for the Won Buddhists, a Korean
organization that emphasizes balance in one's daily life and relationship to
nature.  The center is located on a 500-acre site on a gently sloping hill
with views west to the Catskill Mountains. 
The buildings for the Center, including permanent and guest residences, an
administration building and a meditation hall, are sited as far as possible
from the local rural access road, and oriented west and south to maximize views
and light. The symbol of the Won organization is an open circle, suggesting
both a void without absence and infinite return.  The buildings are
organized around the dual concepts of void and spiral.

 
view of Meditation Hall and Administration from west : Won Dharma Center by hanrahan Meyers architects

The 3,000
square-foot Meditation Hall is conceived as a simple rectangular void and a
lightweight frame to the natural surroundings.  Its wooden structure is
exposed on three sides to form entrance and viewing porches, while the interior
offers expansive views of the mountains.

The
four residential buildings include the dining hall/ administrative building,
and three residential dormitories for guests and permanent residents.  The
design of the residential buildings draws on the formal organization of grass-roofed
Korean farm-houses, loosely clustered and organized internally around a single
central void.  The roof shapes of the 4,000 square-foot residence
buildings transform in section around a spiral organization, from a simple
slope in section to a complex triangulated geometry where the roof transforms
into an open-air entrance porch. The internal organization of the residence
buildings allows silent walking meditation from courtyard to courtyard. 
The courtyards act as passive cooling systems, and when the sliding doors
facing the courtyards open, cross ventilation through the public areas and guest
rooms provides passive cooling. All of the residential buildings are wood
construction, like the Meditation Hall, and deeply shaded to the west and south
to allow natural daylighting without excessive heat gain.

view of guest residences 1 and 2 : Won Dharma Center by hanrahan Meyers architects