Vimutti Valley · Package 01, Meditation Hall · issued to the appointed consultant · 31 August 2026
A meditation hall: one room that has to hold forty practitioners seated on the floor and a row of nine monks on a low raised stage, with a principal Buddha image mounted on the wall behind them, and a drop-down projection screen for teaching. The brief was 120–150 m². The scheme lands at 138.6 m² internal.
| # | Requirement | How the scheme answers it |
|---|---|---|
| R1 | Seat 40 practitioners on the floor, cross-legged | 5 rows × 8, module 0.90 m, row pitch 1.20 m, central aisle 1.20 m — nobody steps over more than four people |
| R2 | Seat 9 monks in a row on a raised stage | Stage 9.20 × 3.40 m, deck +0.45 m, nine places at 1.00 m centres, 0.75 m walkway behind the row |
| R3 | Principal Buddha image, wall-mounted | Ø2.50 m backlit disc proud of the wall; image 1.54 × 1.54 m on a Ø1.64 × 0.25 m base disc, underside at +1.425 m |
| R4 | A screen in front of the monks, so the seated row reads decently from the floor | Podium band, top +0.85 m, running the full 9.20 m; hides laps and knees, doubles as a script ledge and an offering surface |
| R5 | Offerings made without anyone bending to the floor | The +0.85 m podium top is counter height standing, just under shoulder height kneeling; the face below it is flush all the way down |
| R6 | Motorised projection screen at the centre of the stage | Recessed ceiling pocket at 3.50 m from the north wall; picture 2.67 × 1.50 m (≈120"), +2.45 to +3.95 m |
| R7 | Sound and lighting control room | Enclosed 2.55 × 2.20 m at the south-east corner, with a viewing window to the stage |
| R8 | Storage for cushions and mats | Open-access store 2.55 × 2.20 m at the south-west corner, plus ≈7 m³ in the chest under the stage |
| R9 | Keep mosquitoes out and sound in | One external opening only, on the south centre-line; both side walls solid |
| R10 | Air conditioning for 49 occupants | Four ceiling cassettes, ≈12 TR, positioned clear of the screen and never over the monk row |
Each of these was arrived at for a reason that is not obvious from the drawing. Please read the reason before proposing a change.
| # | Decision | The reason |
|---|---|---|
| D1 | Room width is 11.00 m | Set by the monks, not the congregation: nine at 1.00 m centres is 9.00 m, plus a 0.90 m stair bay at each end. |
| D2 | Stage front is a single flush plane, floor to +0.85 m | A donor comes forward on their knees right up to that face. Any apron, step, nosing or skirting catches the knees. The reference photograph shows a plain unbroken board. |
| D3 | The stage does not touch the side walls | It leaves a 0.90 × 3.40 m bay of hall floor at each end. That bay is how the stairs are reached without cutting an opening into the flush front. |
| D4 | Stairs at the far north end of each bay, climbing inward | Follows the reference. Nobody mounts the stage in front of the congregation. Three risers of 0.15 m, treads 0.30 m, walking width 1.30 m. |
| D5 | No tall cabinets beside the image | Two 1.55 m boxes flanking the image put hard edges into the white field and rise past the base-disc line. The image stops floating. Storage moved into the chest under the stage, which holds nearly three times as much and shows nothing. |
| D6 | The backdrop is a disc standing proud of the wall | Not a recess. The reference photograph shows it casting its own shadow, lit from a cove behind its rim. This means the north wall can be an ordinary 200 mm wall. |
| D7 | Screen bottom edge at +2.45 m | A seated head is about 1.35 m. For row 5 to see the bottom of the picture over the head of row 4, the bottom edge has to be at +2.42 m. Lower than that and the back two rows lose the bottom of every slide. |
| D8 | Screen hangs at the stage front line, not further forward or back | Forward increases the front row's neck angle and puts the screen between them and the monks. Backward puts a bright screen behind nine monks and turns them into silhouettes, and lands on the image. Full working in the floor plan. |
| D9 | Ceiling at 4.20 m | The disc runs to +3.25 and the screen to +3.95, with the pocket above that. The reference room is 3.60 m, but it has no drop-down screen — which is exactly why it uses side-wall televisions instead. |
| D10 | Chest lids hinge forward, into the walkway | A back-hinged lid swings straight into the base disc and the image. |
| # | Item | What we need |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | The wall that carries the image | Image 50 kg + base disc 62 kg = 112 kg cantilevered at +1.425 m, projecting about 1.20 m. This needs a steel bracket into RC or into purpose-built backing, designed and set at structure stage. Blockwork and stud partitions are both out. Please design the fixing and tell us what the wall has to be. |
| Q2 | Ceiling build-up | Finished ceiling 4.20 m, screen pocket 0.25 m deep, projector bracket to the slab, duct crossings above. We have assumed a slab soffit at +4.55 m minimum. Please confirm or give us the real figure. |
| Q3 | Mechanical load | ≈12 TR is a rule-of-thumb figure for 49 occupants at this volume in Indian summer conditions. Please have it calculated properly, including the fresh-air requirement for a room with one door and solid side walls. |
| Q4 | Means of escape | A 139 m² assembly room with 40 occupants served by one exit is at the limit of what most codes allow. The door is a 1.80 m double leaf with a 5.70 m clear lobby in front of it. If an officer objects, our preferred fix is widening it to 2.40 m rather than cutting a side door. Please advise under the applicable code. |
| Q5 | Acoustics | The room is for silence and for chanting. We have kept the side walls solid and free for treatment. Please advise on reverberation time and on treatment that does not read as an office. |
| Q6 | Floor build-up | The stage is +0.45 m and its north band is hollow for storage. The deck under the monk row and under the podium must stay solid so it does not creak or drum under nine seated people. |
| Q7 | Site, orientation, envelope | The plan is drawn with the image on the north wall. If the site dictates otherwise, the whole layout rotates as one piece — the internal relationships do not change. |
Phramaha Anusorn Wongtun · World Dhammacakka Association
contact@dhammacakka.in · +91 81271 90326