Tokyo Meditation Cabins
RU(M)INATION.
Tokyo, Japan
Centering oneself has become paramount in a world filled with ever-increasing stresses, daily bombardments of negative news, and a toxic dependence on technology. One way to find that center is to celebrate the imperfections, incompleteness, and the impermanence of life. This idea is closely tied to the Japanese aesthetic world view of wabi-sabi, the acceptance of transience and imperfection. It is a view that pushes one to appreciate the beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, or incomplete. This, like many forms of meditation, is a search for our authentic selves regardless of our flaws. There is a wisdom in this simplicity.
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The proposed design solution reminds users to reflect on this way of thinking. Each meditation cube is constructed with the rubble of a structure destroyed by an earthquake, tsunami, or new development. There is an austere beauty in these asymmetrical remnants of what was. The pod is a collection of imperfections reformed via a gabion, providing to the residents of Tokyo a place of respite from the everyday bustle. A place to accept and enjoy the beauty of imperfection… the beauty of oneself.
