Light Atrium of.

A meditation hall built within the precincts of an existing Rinzai Zen temple. The brief was disarmingly simple: a single room for fifty people, dignified enough for a teacher, quiet enough for breath.

We responded with a square chamber 14 metres across, walls of hand-applied Shikkui plaster, and a single circular oculus at the apex. Throughout the day the sun draws a slow ellipse across the floor · a silent timepiece.

Air enters at the perimeter through carved cedar grilles and rises through the oculus. There is no mechanical conditioning. The room cools itself by listening to the courtyard outside.