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A perfect meditation spot doesn’t need fancy decorations: to make it an enjoyable experience, it is enough to create a safe inviting place for it. Treating practice with great respect, designers and architects do their best to make meditation spaces pleasant and visually appealing – a refuge, a private sanctuary to look forward to.

Located in the city of Cuernavaca in Mexico, the private Ecumenical Chapel by Mexico based architectural practice BNKR is conceived for meditation and contemplation. The project was commissioned by a private client who wanted a non-religious space to meditate in, which wouldn’t be seen from their house, yet would feel special inside.

Conceptually, the chapel represents the midpoint between the studio’s two previous religious buildings: a wedding chapel celebrating life and mourning place grieving death, the balance point that can be described as a journey to our inner selves.

The structure of rhythmic frosted glass slats is almost invisible in the client’s garden and can be accessed by a spiral ramp that descends around the elevated pond, as if preparing one for meditation. Thanks to the water mirror at the ground level the only intervention in the landscape to be seen from the house is a small stream in the garden, which turns out to be the green vortex of the downward path that ends in a round light-filled room with an elliptical oculus in the ceiling mirrored by a large quartz in the concrete floor.

Fancy finding a place for daily practice at your workplace? ROOM, the New York based studio  that focuses on offering affordable, sustainable and flexible solutions for modern workplaces, has designed soundproof privacy booths which can be installed in the office to help employees fight with stress and fatigue through mindfulness in the workplace. Their new project Calm Booth combines the company’s private rooms with the extensive library of Calm, the #1 app for meditation, sleep and relaxation.

The minimal booth includes walls of three layers of soundproofing materials, made from over 1000 recycled plastic bottles, a frosted acrylic door, a built-in ethernet port, motion-enabled led light and ventilation system.

It also features 12 complimentary premium subscriptions to Calm including nature soundscapes, music, nap stories, and audio programs taught by world-renowned mindfulness experts. The app’s popular nature scenes inspired the interior of the booth.

New York based startup BETIME takes meditation to you in a different way. It encompasses a first-ever unique high-tech mobile meditation studio in a repurposed bus that will bring mindfulness to city residents at their convenience. The idea behind BETIME is to provide a serene space and offer people a fully transformative 30 minutes guided practice held by experienced instructors as a mind break amidst the urban hustle. Incorporated self-care bonuses include aromatherapy, light and chromo therapy and weighted blankets. The schedule and locations are posted on the project’s website and social media.

The BETIME vehicle is designed by Aidia Studio headed by the duo couple of architects Rolando Rodriguez Leal and Natalia Wrzask and was named the NYC x DESIGN 2018 Awards Honoree. The interior features unique laser cut wall panels and complex audio and LED lighting components, creating the ambience and atmosphere aimed to promote a deep and personal experience.  The space is filled with significations associated with the concepts of meditation, consciousness and wellbeing.

The geometry of the bus is softened by wrapping it in a continuous curved surface to enable a smooth and soothing effect. To overcome the spatial constraints, reflective surfaces were placed at both ends of the bus. The pattern on the interior lining was derived from studies of the sacred motives. A prominent light source, an oculus, acts as the third eye of centred consciousness guiding the meditation practice.