Foreword

The Silent Meditation Forest Cabins competition is an open international contest for a series of off-the-grid meditation cabins in rural Latvia. It is organised in collaboration with Ozolini, a Latvian tea company which draws on generations of knowledge and experience to create unique mixtures of herbal teas, and which opens its farm to eco-tourists as a meditative retreat.

The competition seeks eco-friendly and cost-effective proposals for an easily- constructible and -replicable 15m² hut that could be sited in a series of forested locations across the Ozolini farm. The cabins are intended to provide users which a calm space to meditate while surrounded by the sounds of nature.

Latvia is over 50 percent forested and home to a diverse ecosystem, which includes rare black storks, otters, beavers, lynx, wolves, deer, wild boar, elk, and red fox. Protected wildlife zones account for approximately a fifth of the country. The Ozolini estate is dense in natural resources, with as many as 50 species of herbal plant life per square metre. It is located 100 km from Riga, Latvia, immersed in the forest and alongside Lake Bezdibenė. Ozolini, in addition to functioning as a tea farm, hosts summer camps to explore the secrets of medicinal herbs, as well as self-awareness workshops.

Designers were asked to propose a series of cabins that have the capacity to: provide comfortable living accommodation to a single person for 4-5 days; be operational in all seasons; contain sufficient clear floor area for meditation; include small food and water storage; be mosquito proof; incorporate alternative lighting options; and include a heating system for winter months.

The winning proposals will be considered for construction, and designs for the Silent Meditation Forest Cabins were above all asked to focus on eco-friendly and cost-effective building techniques, to be models for one of Europe’s greenest countries.

Designs were judged for their integration within the forest and sensitivity to the environment. A range of ideas were submitted for cabins that have the capacity to interact with the forest in a variety of ways. The jury asked: Has the design introduced some innovative architectural idea? How has the designer made use of this particular site? Does the proposal offer a peaceful space to observe the forest, and to be both completely alone and protected from the elements?

This competition is part of a series organised by Bee Breeders focused on designs for compact living spaces integrated within nature. Recently, the website ran competitions seeking proposals for Iceland Northern Lights Rooms, European Velo Stops, and Amber Road Trekking Cabins. Bee Breeders would like to thank all entrants for their participation in the Silent Meditation Forest Cabins competition.

COMPETITION ORGANISERS
Silent 
Meditation 
Forest Cabins

1st Prize Winner

Project name

Solo Cabin

Architecture vision competitions challenge you to rethink specific topics. They provide the freedom for testing alternative ideas.

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Authors David Florez, Stefani Zlateva,
Country Austria

2nd Prize Winner +
BB STUDENT AWARD

Project name

Nest

I feel that architectural vision competitions are important in improving your creativity, and also a good way to improve your skills in using different software and making visual presentations. In general, it is a good way to present your new ideas about the topical issues on architecture to a broader public.

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3rd Prize Winner

Project name

Aesthesia

For now there is nothing we wish more than to get the possibility to share our enthusiasm, experiences and ideas for the new dimension of art and architecture.

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Authors Karolina Domènech, Marta Lisiakiewicz, Emilia Oworuszko, Aleksandra Białkowska
Country Poland
+78 points Buildner University Rankings

BB GREEN AWARD

Project name

Enveloping

This is an opportunity to share your views with the world.

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Authors Andrii Koval, Olha Laktionova,
Country Ukraine

Honorable Mentions

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Project name

Echo cabin

Authors Nós Architectes,
Country Canada
Project name

Homo Rodans

Authors Zachary Bundy, Nicholas Shekerjian, Elena Rocchi
Country United States
Project name

Rooted Cabin

Authors Panos Tharouniatis, Panagiotis Lampronikos, Min Duan, ,
Country United States
Project name

Frame

Authors Nicholas Horvath,
Country United States
+72 points Buildner University Rankings
Project name

Hermitage I

Authors Mandira Sareen, , ,
Country United States
Project name

CabIN/OUT

Shortlisted projects

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Nest

Marko Simsiö

Finland

VILLA THERMAE

Pedro Alcántara

Jose juan Guillamón

Spain

HIVE

Alessio Petecchia

Andrea Bianchi

Italy

Forest Temple

Lisa Collomb

Switzerland

OZOLINI CABINS

Craig Nener

Australia

Echo cabin

Nós Architectes

Canada

Solitude Tower

Stanisław Rudzki

Poland

Oru-Kami

Federigo Gioia

Italy

The Periscope

Alexandru Zingaliuc

Sandu Ursu

Mihai Cebotari

ARCHIZEIT STUDIO

Moldova

Cabin of the silence

Matvey Genne

Polina Vasina

Marselo Rueda

Moscow Architectural Institute (State Academy)

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Russian Federation

Hermitage I

Mandira Sareen

United States

Sante Bonitatibus

Italy

The path of light begin

Byeo ri Kim

Dong won Jo

Han na rae Kim

Gyu jin Kim

South Korea

Acoustic Shell

Ashraf Hijazi

Lawrence Technological University

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
United States

Meditation Cocoon

Halil Baha Akyar

Turkey

Endor - Being with a tree

Jakob Bohlen

Nils Hiddessen

Heiko Lubs

Germany

FO·rest cabin

Jofre Roca

Monika Jokiel

Spain

THE SILENCE AMPLIFIER

Gianluca Santosuosso

Matthias Kimmel

United Kingdom

shelter n.

Julien Picard

Leah Cocks

France

elevAtion

Beth Held

Forum Phi

United States

Ozolini Forest Cabins

Alberto Quizon

Regan Ching

Australia

NUR

Verena Hornig

Javid Alibhai

Malika Butt

Ola-ife Ojo

Canada

Kokle | National landmark, a breeze of freedom

Maîté Scherer

Fanny Matthey-de-l’étang

École d'architecture de l'Université Laval

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Canada

CONTRON

Francesco Michelis

Mattia Michelis

Anita Sampogna

Italy

A piece peace

Simon Morville

Marc Takikawa

France

SELF-REFLECTIVE CABIN

Mikkel trudslev Jensen

Christoffer thor Paulsen

Denmark

Circular Cabins

Ayda Grisiute

Finland

Cocoon

Nur Ayalp

Cihat Caglar

Turkey

Rooted Cabin

Panos Tharouniatis

Panagiotis Lampronikos

Min Duan

Urban Energy Works

United States

WoodPod

Andrea Molinari

Giulia Margotti

Edoardo Balboni

Università degli Studi di Ferrara

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Italy

Homo Rodans

Zachary Bundy

Nicholas Shekerjian

Elena Rocchi

United States

Solo Cabin

David Florez

Stefani Zlateva

Austria

Merge Meditation Cabin

Florian glenn david Reisacher

Johannes Düber

Delft University of Technology

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Netherlands

Ka Cabin

Walid El-turki

Razan Elmrayed

Loay Burwais

Mahmoud Alsherif

Libya Design

Libya

OBSERVATORY

Lucy Humphrey

Andrew Perich

Australia

Alodie Girmann

Rachel Trapp

Eric Santti

Christopher Melton

University of New Mexico

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
United States

CabIN/OUT

Joseph Watkins

United Kingdom

Chashitsu

Ana rita Gomes

Portugal

symbolism and meditation

Quentin Caulle

Cyprien Baudry

École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Marseille

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
France

Aesthesia

Karolina Domènech

Marta Lisiakiewicz

Emilia Oworuszko

Aleksandra Białkowska

Wrocław University of Science and Technology

+78 points Buildner University Rankings!
Poland

The Threshold

Jonas Zink

Ruth Bartelmann

Lars Standop

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Germany

Enveloping

Andrii Koval

Olha Laktionova

Ukraine

SIDE x SIDE

Mattia Fornari

Luca Tagliaferri

Italy

[FOREST HOME] MEŽA MĀJA

Cameron Kollath

Jacob Cournoyer

United States

Komorebi

Alexa Ongoco

Danny Truong

Australia

tower house

Vadym Mylostiuk

Ukraine

Cobogo-like Meditation Cabins

Sebastian Salas canitrot

United Kingdom

Pacem Vaccui

Niclas Reinke

Matteo Pelagatti

Germany

The Hand House

Guido Mitidieri

Finland

Silent Creature

Roel Van lent

Bram Van den heuvel

Lars Goossens

Naomi Cheung san

Netherlands

ASMR_a small meditation retreat

Adrien Thivolle

France

Speaker

Süleyman can Çinkılıç

Faruk Makuloğlu

Daniele Volante

Turkey

Frame

Nicholas Horvath

United States

Dwelling - Thinking - Feeling

Konstantinos Paloubis

Chrisanthi Karta

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Greece

A Fallen Tree

Richard Sundberg

United States

FOCUS

Thomas Gössler

Austria

Silent Meditation Forest Cabins

John Myefski

Christopher Myefski

Ellis Wills-begley

Aniella Goldinger

United States

Perception

Yuting Zhang

Huopu Zhang

United States

RELAXA'T

Lluis Marcet salvador

Raquel Fernandez martin

Meritxell Venteo gallardo

Ovidiu valentin Ana

Spain

FLOW

Nathalie Fatte

Lebanon