SsD

Cambridge, MA | 2006

BLYP is a non-profit studio dedicated to offering yoga practice as a transformational tool, particularly to those suffering from post-traumatic stress. Budgetary constraints were taken as an opportunity to explore and express the client’s elemental approach to yoga as a ‘simple, well-intended, and imperfect practice.’ The design solution was to abstract the site into two materials: the ground and the sky. Like the practice of yoga, the ground (bendable cork) and the luminous sky (fire-retardant tyvek) merge in the space between (the body) in ways that are both functional and symbolic.

The horizontal floor merges with the vertical wall forming both symbolic and functional spatial divisions (left).  The practice of yoga becomes an egalitarian part of the urban streetscape (left).

Views out to the streetscape extend the experience of yoga practice (left).  A mirror expands the ‘horizon’ while providing a learning tool for yoga practice.

The curved cork flooring becomes analagous to petals of the black lotus.

PROJECT CREDITS:

architect
Jinhee Park AIA, John Hong AIA/LEED (principals in charge), Anne Levallois

contractor
Luther Child, Ltd.

RELATED PROJECTS:

acc	city hall	hbny

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