Meditation House near Garmisch-Partenkirchen
- Claudia Fuchs
A place of tranquillity in the middle of the woods awaits guests of the Kranzbach Hotel near Mittenwald, Germany. A narrow path leads from the main building to a small clearing, where the new meditation pavilion has been carefully set between tall spruce trees. The 18 × 8 m building, sheltering beneath a faceted tent-like roof, is extensively glazed. Only on its eastern face does it present a closed outer skin, consisting of interlocking fir planks set on the diagonal. The timber facades to the two long sides dissolve progressively, but internally this construction continues as a space-forming, almost sculptural wooden design. Here, it is in the form of partly diaphanous, partly opaque wall cladding; beneath the roof of the meditation area, however, it forms a space-enclosing canopy. This staggered timber structure envelops the room, which opens on to the surroundings via frameless glazing. The glazed skin provides protection against the elements, but since the glass is scarcely perceptible and the forest floor comes right up to the facade, visitors have the impression of simply being on a platform beneath the trees. Light falls between the members of the multilayer criss-cross timber structure like daylight between the surrounding branches, thus subtly linking inside and outside.
