Project Profile

Jemez Springs, NM

Project Details

New Construction: Yes

Date Built: May 2003

Building Type: Recreation facilities, Religious facilities, Retreats

City: Jemez Springs

State: NM

Country: USA

Project Team

Architect: Predock_Frane Architects

Description

The Center of Gravity Foundation Hall serves as the primary teaching and meditation hall for the existing Zen Buddhist Compound. It is located in a high mountain valley in Northern New Mexico with abundant geothermal activity below the site. The cliffs of the valley are a rosy pink sculpted sandstone. The tin roofed, masonry, existing buildings were built from the turn of the century through the 1950’s, and were originally used as a boy scout camp.

Conceptually, the project embraces oppositions: intersecting two embracing boxes – one of heaviness (rammed earth) and the other of lightness (polycarbonate on timberstrand) to define the transition from exterior to interior and to form the interior of the hall. The light translucent West site “glows” with light as the sun sets over the mountains. The East side cradles the space with thick earthen walls, partially containing the “light” box. A folded, stealth-like metal roof plane hovers over the space supported by glulam beams and purlins. Primarily supported along the North and South ends, the East and West edges of the roof plane float above the walls, with clear glass filling this void. The cantilevers of this roof plane define raised exterior paths for walking meditation, and divert rainwater into a catchment for irrigation. Sliding panels along the East side open to reveal a 36’ wide aperture with foreground views onto a garden and background views toward the reddish mountains beyond.

Light structures and ritualizes the space. Dawn light enters the space through sheets of glass turned on edge which are sandwiched into the wooden sliding panels. As the sun moves overhead, ambient light from a continuous slot below the roof and through the polycarbonate panels creates an even halo within the building. As the sun moves into the far West, between the roof overhang and the cliff horizon, the west walls come alive, glowing with amber hues. As the sun sets, recessed lights begin to create an interior glow that makes the building a “lantern” at night.

The ritual and formality of traditional Zen practice is respected while the architecture establishes a new direction for the meeting of two cultures.

Environmentally, the project operates at several different levels. The heating and cooling is both passive and active. Passively, the thick compressed earth walls act as thermal composites, keeping unwanted summer heat out during the day and re-radiating it at night. In the winter, the mass of the 26” thick earth walls and multi-layer polycarbonate walls limit thermal transfer. Cantilevered roof edges, up to 14’ deep, block summer sun and allow the lower winter sun angle to radiate through the polycarbonate wall. Cooling works effectively via cross ventilation by opening the 36’ of sliding panels to the east and the entry doors to the west, capturing natural prevailing breezes. Heat is generated actively during the winter by geothermal water that is captured on the site, passed through a heat exchanger, and radiated along the building’s interior perimeter. Artificial lighting is kept to a minimum with adequate light levels for reading during most of the daylight hours via the large translucent walls and glazed eaves. Materially, the earth for the walls was found locally at a large civil construction site. It echoes the textures and hues of the surrounding cliffs. Recycled timberstrand members are spaced on a 3’ module, simultaneously saving material and corresponding to the tatami module of the floor.

Jemez Springs has very few public gathering spaces and therefore the building operates as a community meeting space, regularly hosting various local organizations. Likewise, the building serves larger communities throughout the United States, regularly drawing people from across the county for meetings and retreats. This overlapping program influenced both its location within the Center and creating the necessity of having the sacred area partitionable during these functions.

(Photographer: Jason Predock)