Burlington Shambhala Center

2009 Burlington, VT

712 SF, Meditation and educational space for 45.  $65K

Principal: Michael Wisniewski

PROBLEM : SOLUTION

A Buddhist meditation and education center, committed to  downtown Burlington, had outgrown its rented space.  Was it feasible to expand the center onto an existing terrace?  Could the expansion relate to the old Hood Plant, an attached apartment structure and express Shambhala principles and identity?  A new meditation/teaching room for 45 people with an inward aspect for meditation and an outward connection to the world on the usual tight, even impossible, budget. 

Reflecting Shambhala writings, we sited a solid/void (Shunyata) pavilion on the Shoulder of the Land (Nyen - Terrace) between Mountain Peak (Lha - Apartments) and overlooking the Water Basin (Lu - Sloping Street/Lake).  The pavilion expresses Shambhala as a freestanding identity while tying the complex together with the cornice line extending the Hood Plant roofline and the cedar materials connecting to the apartments.  

The north street solid wall is a backdrop for the shrine while blocking interior views of the power pole and creating inward focus. It will also hold an abstracted mandala in the future.  The interior cedar ceiling cantilevers to the west which extends energy outward into the world, shades the sun and draws pedestrians below into the space.  The structure also cantilevers off the building below to the south so a subtle spiral of energy is created by the shifting cantilevers around the interior void space leading you from the world back to the contemplation place of shrine.