The temple of Water, the main one of Ninnaji Shingon, the oldest branch of tantric Buddhism in Japan, rests on a hill with views over Osaka Bay. The project proposes a sensory experience, a shift from the ordinary world to the sacred space. The approach route to the hall starts with the continuation of a small road that leads through the forest to a three meter tall concrete wall and a single opening. After crossing the threshold, another wall, this time curved, guides visitors along a white gravel path. Walking around the end of the curved wall, the field of view suddenly opens up to the horizon and reaches a pond, whose elliptical shape evokes the lotus, symbol of Buddhism. Descending the stairs that cut through the center the faithful are immersed in the sacred space beneath the pond, inverting the usual itinerary of ascension to the temple.

The composition of the apse and the nave inside challenges the traditional scheme but maintains the mysticism of these spaces. Concrete is replaced here with a red timber latticework around a square of 17.4 meters presided by a statue of Buddha, behind which is the only source of natural light in the temple...[+]