sanctuary tunnel garden weaves a spiritual retreat
RAD+ar’s Sanctuary Tunnel Garden is a retreat that explores how religious architecture is evolving by incorporating modernist influences while preserving its spiritual essence. Set within a rural estate near Bogor, Indonesia, the project features a program consisting of three major spaces: a semi-public chapel, a semi-public Mother Mary spiritual garden, and private villas.
The chapel features an ambiguous tunnel carved from a single block that intersects with several inverted spaces abundant with existing trees and shrouded in mist. It serves as the floating corpus of Jesus, acting as the spiritually climactic space illuminated by a ‘Light and Truth at the End of the Tunnel’. Alongside this are areas of varying levels of intimacy, created through flowing geometries and dramatic lighting, that immerse visitors in silence, awe, and timeless devotion, allowing them to escape the hectic pace of city life.
all images courtesy of RAD+ar
rad+Ar reimagines the sacred space in indonesia
Sanctuary Tunnel Garden’s design redefines sacred spaces by employing a repetition of the simplicity found in downslope archaic exoskeleton structures. These structures regularly bridge a new terraced building and spaces through juxtaposed ramping circulation, leading into the irregular existing and dense woods. Here, covering less than 10% of the site’s footprint, the design integrates seamlessly into the terrain and creates both a physical and a spiritual tunnel that penetrates the vast, open nature.
Through an interplay of light, scale, and contrast, the team at RAD+ar allows the several structures that shape the project to achieve a universal appeal while still reflecting their cultural and spiritual foundations. The undulating structure, separated from the all-glass walls and windows, creates an open 360-degree view that is transparent and approachable from all sides. This fosters an indoor-outdoor experience — a gesture that is as profane as it is sacred. Along the ground floor, the smaller sacred space is seamlessly connected to bodies of water on both ends, featuring free-form natural terraces that merge with a manmade waterfall. The scale of the space and its natural light render it both landscape and architecture, alluding to past gatherings outdoors.
RAD+ar completes the Sanctuary Tunnel Garden
each arch is part of a spiritual journey, a ‘tunnel’ towards enlightenment
a softly lit glass facade, framed by striking concrete arches, creates a powerful expression of spirituality
the presence of the Virgin Mary, completing the spiritual journey within this architectural ‘tunnel’
