CERES MEDITATION GARDEN, 2013-22

PHILOMENA MANIFOLD & CERES COMMUNITY

A collaborative design that explores the idea of refuge.

Design: Philomena Manifold

Site Managment: Nick Curmy and Andy Burns

Stone Masonry: Luke Doyle

View plan here.

Design Brief
Provide a welcoming, personal, small-scaled, centred space for small groups and individuals to meditate and seek refuge.
Practical and attractive solutions to overall site design, integrating with the ethos of CERES yet providing a distinctly different experience to the existing CERES landscape.

Design Statement
I started the design process by asking myself:
How can a garden act as an invitation into a meditative experience?
Can it foster sensitivity to both the human and non-human world?
I explored the idea of containment and of being held. I reflected that most meditation gardens around the world cultivate this kind of experience. They offer a place of refuge. This is different to wild places (which are vital and important), a garden is a curated space. I decided to make this a strong design element. The warm sandstone walls encircle and provide a place in which we can cultivate our sensitivity to both our inner life and the life around us.
The design was influenced by Joanna Macey’s ‘The Work that Reconnects'. In particular, I explored her idea of widening circles of care. That we begin with ourselves, and from here we have the capacity to expand our care to family, friends, wider human and more than human world.
The design was also influenced by water as it is a strong symbol that runs through many belief systems. I lent into the image of the impact of a drop of water on a still pond, an image that speaks to the way our actions can ripple out across the world.

The ripple across the surface of water has been the anchor of this design. By using the soft curves and repeating patterns of widening circles this pattern takes us from the inner world to the outer.

The meditation garden at CERES can be found at the Learning Centre. The best entrance to the garden is via the Lee street entrance.

CERES Meditation Garden

CERES MEDITATION GARDEN, 2013-22

PHILOMENA MANIFOLD & CERES COMMUNITY

A collaborative design that explores the idea of refuge.

Design: Philomena Manifold

Site Managment: Nick Curmy and Andy Burns

Stone Masonry: Luke Doyle

View plan here.

Design Brief

Provide a welcoming, personal, small-scaled, centred space for small groups and individuals to meditate and seek refuge.

Practical and attractive solutions to overall site design, integrating with the ethos of CERES yet providing a distinctly different experience to the existing CERES landscape.

Design Statement

I started the design process by asking myself:

How can a garden act as an invitation into a meditative experience?

Can it foster sensitivity to both the human and non-human world?

The design was influenced by Joanna Macey’s ‘The Work that Reconnects'. In particular, I explored her idea of widening circles of care. That we begin with ourselves, and from here we have the capacity to expand our care to family, friends, wider human and more than human world.

The design was also influenced by water as it is a strong symbol that runs through many belief systems. I lent into the image of the impact of a drop of water on a still pond, an image that speaks to the way our actions can ripple out across the world.

The ripple across the surface of water has been the anchor of this design. By using the soft curves and repeating patterns of widening circles this pattern takes us from the inner world to the outer.

The meditation garden at CERES can be found at the Learning Centre. The best entrance to the garden is via the Lee street entrance.