A living record of community and place over time.
The redevelopment of the site is anchored in the principles of Buddhist ritual, with a prominent west–east axis shaping the spatial composition. This axial arrangement creates an experience-led journey, guiding visitors from the point of arrival through a series of spaces designed to support the practice of diverse meditation forms.

At the heart of the site, the community-built Meditation Hall employs earth as its principal material. Its solid, thick rammed earth walls ground the space both physically and emotionally, offering a serene and contemplative environment. The warm tones and soft, diffused light envelop visitors, while the polished earth floor enhances the sense of stability and connection to place.

Internally, the exposed earth walls are left unfinished, allowing them to bear the subtle marks of human interaction over time—gradually smoothed and burnished by touch, they form a living record of the community’s engagement with the building.

A strawbale dining pavilion extends from an existing timber-framed structure, chosen both for its minimal carbon footprint and its capacity to be built collaboratively by the community.

The landscape design integrates active rainwater gardens, which provide surface water storage while reinforcing the site’s axial concept. These gardens become dynamic visual features, shifting in character with the seasons. To the west, a naturalised garden forms a soft threshold to the car park, encouraging a gentle transition into the site. Here, lush planting creates the feeling of moving through a tranquil oasis while also enhancing flood resilience in an area prone to surface water accumulation.