Translating the transcendent : drawing on Hindu spiritual traditions in the making of a therapeutic healing place

RESEARCH QUESTION: How can the conceptions of Hindu spirituality be applied in the formation of holistic architectural spaces? ABSTRACT: Mental health is a serious issue among university students. Recent studies provide evidence that students are the highest group to experience some form of psychological distress due to the inability of balancing school, work, and life leading to implications of mental illness. Environmental factors also contribute to the increase of mental health problems. Spiritualism in India can be defined by the healing of the mind and body through the engagement of traditional practices. Hinduism is recognised as a way of life and is centred around the notion of attaining mental happiness that is done through certain constituents. The project has adopted these practices with the association of architectural constituents to provide spaces that assist students with coping methods on mental illness. The incorporation of traditions and practices commonly used in Hinduism such as meditation, yoga, and mandalas will provide a deeper understanding of spirituality and how it is used in healing. Architectural elements such as light, materiality, threshold, boundary, and water are methods commonly used in spiritual spaces in India that support our inner and outer senses to create a therapeutic experience. The project explores these practices through a series of spaces contributing to mental health. Located in the proximity of universities, the spaces tend to the active and passive needs to provide students with a spatial experience through architectural elements. The organisation of spaces rely heavily on the integration of the Vastu Purusha mandala. Experimentation of the illumination in a space, the application of water, the use of materiality, and threshold were incorporated into the architectural spaces to act as a sense of therapy through experience. The intent is to illustrate the concepts of Hindu spirituality and its application to architectural spaces, that positively impact students to help relieve stress