The Meditation Vault
Underground Room Sequences as a Museum
TU WIEN 2022W
Studio Spatial Design
INSTRUCTOR
Benjamin Konrad
INDIVIDUAL WORK
LOCATION
Museum of Applied Arts,
Vienna
Situated in the urban context of Vienna’s city center, the Meditation Vault is a sequence of underground exhibition spaces where the architecture itself becomes the exhibit. The design is defined not by traditional function, but by precisely curated spatial properties: light, proportion, and materiality.
ATMOSPHERE & TRANSITION
Visitors enter through a vault-like structure, transitioning from the busy everyday life of the city into a space of tranquility. The path is guided by dim, indirect light, leading into a central hall penetrated by a singular, dramatic skylight.
MATERIALITY & ELEMENTS
The design embraces natural elements as part of the spatial experience. Rainwater is channeled through open gutters, guiding visitors to the meditation area. What is typically perceived as “bad weather” becomes an aesthetic quality. The water collects in a gravel bed, allowing it to seep away naturally while reinforcing the raw, contemplative atmosphere of the concrete structure.