A meditation garden in the Lithuanian forest

Architect Hans-Petter Bjørnådal, the winner of the 2016 American Architecture Prize 2016, has crafted a meditation garden in the Lithuanian forest, where architecture acts as the mediator between human life and the wilderness.


Forests have always been places that foster meditation as confirmed by history, just think of spiritual retreats, from Buddha to Christian saints. The fundamental role that the forest plays in the collective imagine is also underscored by many cultural testimonies, the most famous of which are of course fables written by many - from Perrault through to the Brothers Grimm, but its roots go back even further to Nordic myths. 
The approach to the workshop “Human Birdhouse Workshop” held last year in Lithuania with three architects: Marco Casagrande (Finland) (link), Vilen Kunnapu (Estonia) and the Norwegian Hans-Petter Bjørnådal.is based on this concept of the sacredness of nature. On the property owned by writer, artist, and director Vytautas V. Landsbergis, a new kind of architecture was addressed: Constructive Shamanism.
An approach that we might call holistic given that it extends the idea of the construction to the spiritual sphere. In other words, it uses creative architecture to enhance the harmonious and respectful link between human beings and nature.
Architect Hans-Petter Bjørnådal is known to our readers for Klemet (http://www.floornature.com/blog/land-art-architecture-and-theatre-klemet-the-shaman-9157/), where he brings together art, architecture, and theatre in an all-embracing experience, and he used this same approach in the workshop. With Gapahuk, vernacular Norwegian shelter, traditionally used by hunters or farmers, built from untreated wood and whatever else is to hand, he provides a small shelter in the forest. 
In the case of the “Human Birdhouse Workshop”, three of these structures were built in a corner of the garden, near a swamp, another element brimming with magical mystery in Lithuanian folklore. These are small, individual shelters facing different directions. Unlike the vernacular ones, the gapahuk in Bjørnådal afford you shelter even when you're standing, so that every user can get the best experience from their meditation immersed in nature. 
The project is completed by two stone totems symbolising the masculine and feminine element and logs hammered into the ground provide the seating for a natural amphitheatre located not far from the shelters and setting the scene for cultural performances.
So Hans-Petter Bjørnådal has crafted a special place where architecture acts as the mediator between human life and the wilderness, in the finest local cultural tradition.   

Chrisitiane Bürklein

Team
Hans-Petter Bjørnådal (http://www.b-ark.no/), Vytautas V. Landsbergis, Šarūnas Savickas, Dovilas Bukauskas, Goda Verikaitė, Corentin Holvoet, Sophie Hazebrouck, Kristė Krupovisovaitė, Viktorija Minčinskaja, Kwai Pun Jordane, Laisvydas Dudutis, Dainius Meškauskas, Leika Mark Noppenau, Silvija Juškelienė, Thullier Ludovic
Organizers: Guoda Barduskaite, Šarūnas Savickas
Local mediator Vytautas V. Landsbergis
Location: Lituania
Photos: Lidija Kaleinikovaite, Lina Pilibaviciute
Thanks to v2com
More about Constructive Shamanism: http://www.constructiveshamanism.com/