Meditation Gardens 

Ragusa Ibla, Sicily

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Danielle Fountain

On a slice of hillside in Ragusa Ibla, Sicily, passageways carve through the varying scales, textures, and densities of overgrown flora. The plant life hugs the ruins of the medieval town wall, hiding them from the streets either side. Overlooking the site is a disused monastery and adjoin church.

The proposal was to inhabit the space with a meditation garden. The programme focuses on the movement of the body as a key element of relaxation. The space was designed to be traversed in such a way as to clear the mind of the inhabitant. Several of the cavernous spaces provide different types of relaxation, the largest of which is a deep swimming pool. Other smaller pools and pavilions are nestled amongst the plant life providing sanctuary on warmer afternoons.

Inspiration was taken directly from the endemic plant life. Specifically, voids between plants were used as a way to formulate new physical space. The unfamiliar forms of the new formations relate materially to the existing surrounding context. The local vernacular architecture, mediated by the foliage and landscape, bleeds into the new.