03 Jun Meditation On The Go
Now this is something every city should have! Sparked by her desire to share her meditation experience with New Yorkers on the go, Carla Hammond, founder and CEO of Be Time Practice partnered with Rolando Rodriguez-Leal and Natalia Wrzask of AIDIA Studio to create a Mobile Meditation Studio.
See what they have to say about the design process of Mobile Meditation Studio below!
Can you describe the mood you were trying to create in the mobile studio? How did this impact your design decisions?
“The intent of the studio was to create a calming and personal experience which could become the base for a deep and contemplative meditation session. It became clear that the lighting would act as the driving force to induce a deep state of mind and help ease the senses, this is how the “oculus” or “third eye” feature at the far end of the studio was born.
The small perforations on the walls follow the “fruit of life” pattern – a geometric organization which is said to be the “blueprint of the universe”. In terms of the color palette, we intended it to be as bright as possible in order to optically make the space appear larger than it is. This is why we chose white for the perforated, metal wall panels and white stained wooden planks for the floor.”
How did you overcome the spatial constraints when transforming the passenger bus?
“The main challenge was designing an interior that would keep the users’ mind off the idea of being confined within a bus. For that to happen, we knew we had to soften the geometry of the existing shell by wrapping it in a smooth, continuous skin without right angles or hard geometries. In addition, we resorted to an optical illusion to visually increase the size of the studio by placing two reflective surfaces against each other.”
How did your partnership with McKenzie Craftt result in the design you envisioned?
“Gavin McKenzie and Mike Arnspiger from McKenzie are hands‐on professionals who grasped the design intent immediately and put all their expertise to work in order to achieve our vision. They helped us with the challenge of perforating and creating the right curvature for the lining panels as well as fabricating the oculus in order for it to evenly diffuse light.
Apart from beautifully crafting the interiors of the bus, they made sure the studio was temperature controlled and sound proof by providing rockwool insulated walls and cork lined floors. They also coordinated all the wiring of services such as lighting, sound system and air‐conditioning to make sure all these elements fit harmoniously within the designed space.”
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