Outdoor Building / Won Dharma New York

• The Wondharma Center, the overall command center for Won Buddhism's missionary work in the United States, was planned in 2007 and is a significant facility of Won Buddhism completed in New York State in 2011. The main program is a meditation center that practices Zen, the most central philosophy in religion.
  
  The architectural design was conducted by Thomas Hallahan, a co-founder of the Hallahan-Myers (hMa) design office in New York and a professor of architecture at Prett Institute in the US. SeoAhn was in charge of landscape planning and design among the entire master plan. As Inspired by traditional Korean architecture, the yard of the opened "ㅁ"-shaped architecture has been developed into an organic space, it was set as an important direction in the overall master plan to engrave the Korean sentiment of Won Buddhism in the vast landscape of America in the project.
  
  The Wondharma Center, the general command center of Won Buddhism in the Americas, consists of 500 acres of vast grassland with the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains in the far east, flowing very gently towards them. It is a land full of poetic and spiritual energy that dramatically faces nature.
  
  The key to landscape planning was how to weave the vast land to contain meditation-related activities and immerse in the scenery without compromising the high value of purity of the land. The first consideration in the construction was the arrangement of a hall for meditation and assembly and several accommodation buildings for visitors to stay. To prevent the group of buildings from interfering with the flow of the site, the site selection work was carried out together with the local architect.  In addition, programs such as a rainwater storage pond that can capture the temporary scenery of collecting and dispersing rainwater and a small orchard where fruit trees are grown and exchanged with the local community were included in the plan. However, the most important thing was to maintain the scenery of the grassland that filled the ground as it was.
  
  The Wondharma Center, completed in January 2012, was a project that prioritized the value of the coexistence of buildings and landscapes as one organic organization while respecting the order of the vast land. Although the various meaningful contents proposed in the master plan were not realized at once, we expect them to be implemented through a step-by-step action plan.

• Won Dharma New York
• Location | NewYork
• Site Area | approx. 1,719,000 ㎡  Completion | 2011