Walters & Cohen Architects: Vajrasana Buddhist Retreat Centre
Walsham le Willows, Suffolk, UK
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The Buddhist mindset embraces paradoxes. Koans such as “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” help the practitioner experience multiplicities of thought, breaking down the barriers between the active and the meditative mind to encourage intensive reflection. Can architecture serve the same function? Sacred architecture has explored this question throughout history, and in the case of the Vajrasana Retreat Centre, a rural outpost of the London Buddhist Centre (LBC), the answer is an emphatic yes.
For architect Cindy Walters of London-based Walters & Cohen Architects, the design process for Vajrasana was largely without precedent. The team was well-versed in Buddhist architecture and in modernist design but needed to create an architectural language which combined the two for this serene, modern-day oasis with a timeless aesthetic. The building program increased the Centre’s capacity from 34 to 60 guests, many of whom visit Vajrasana for short-stay retreats and meditation-based programs.
The design reimagined an existing retreat center in Walsham le Willows in rural Suffolk, removing outdated agricultural buildings and replacing them with simple, modern, functional facilities with a carefully ordered processional sequence from the domestic realm to the spiritual. “Functional,” while accurate, doesn’t convey the Centre’s harmonious forms, the elegant detailing, or the beautiful craftsmanship. The composition is at once balanced and dynamic; secluded and connected; introspective and communal.
After doing a deep-dive into the LBC’s goals, culture, and retreat programs, the architects developed a conceptual design founded in the group’s rituals and processes and inspired by the Triratna or Three Jewels of Buddhism: the Sangha, the Dharma, and the Buddha. Each concept finds expression within a tripartite scheme and a carefully crafted sequence of distinct, dedicated spaces.
The Sangha, which represents community, takes the form of a courtyard formed by shared social spaces such as the guest rooms, dining room, and lounge. Colonnaded on two sides, the courtyard invites comparison to a monastic cloister; at Vajrasana, however, the single-story buildings clad in charred Siberian larch balance enclosure with a sense of connection, both through interactions with other guests and through framed views of the landscape beyond.
From this communal courtyard, guest enter two adjacent courtyards focused on the Dharma for meditation on the Buddha’s teachings. One courtyard is anchored by a stupa of Portuguese limestone, and the other by a bronze statue of the Buddha meditating on a lotus leaf that appears to float on a pool of water. These introspective spaces are enclosed by a perforated screen wall of dark Belgian bricks, rough on some sides and smooth on others, in a configuration of stretchers and soldiers and spaces that diffuses light and offers glimpses of the surrounding landscape.
The meditation room at the terminus of the processional sequence is the Centre’s most secluded space, and the only one in which the materials stray from simple and spartan to include a golden-hued Buddha. The timber floors evoke a sense of connection to the earth, while the high rhythmic openings in the tactile brick walls draw the eye skyward. The slot windows create patterns of dappled light which shift over the course of the day; this dappled light creates a sense of light filtered through a tree canopy, referencing the Buddha’s enlightenment under the Bodhi tree.
The materials palette integrates the Centre in its agricultural site, echoing the traditional charred timber barns familiar to the region’s countryside. A standing seam metal roof, simple furnishings, and generous volumes may lend an agricultural aesthetic, but the detailing and innovation in installation elevates these materials into spaces that feel designed and thoughtful, not merely spartan.
The resulting buildings, knitted into the site with seamless landscape design, combine to embody the ethos of its owners and guests. Its spaces are simple, but not simplistic; minimal, but not ascetic; and sheltered, but not isolated. Designed for comforting domestic routines such as shoe storage and tea time as well as for transformative spiritual experiences, the Centre is well positioned to welcome the growing numbers of guests seeking mindfulness, rest, and inspiration within the modern world.