Waterside Buddhist Shrine

Your moment of Zen: Beijing-based practice Archstudio designed the minimalist "Waterside Buddhist Shrine" in the northern Chinese province of Hebei as an immersive experience close to nature. The entire interior is located under a hillside next to a river and is formed from cast-in-place concrete using one inch pine strips to give the walls a beautiful, organic texture. The Buddhist altar is situated under a canted skylight and the curved back wall channels light down into the area. The tea-drinking area in front of the Buddhist altar faces the river and features a low table with floor cushions and carved modern back rests.

http://www.archstudio.cn/works/detail/1270998765691473920

BEAUTY: Photography--Ronny Behnert

Photographer Ronny Behnert travels the world photographing special places and I particularly like his series called Torri.

"I met Shintoism and Buddhism, the most widespread religions in Japan, all over the country. Shrines and torii, the traditional Japanese gates that symbolize the entrance to a Shinto shrine and form the transition from profane to sacred spaces, can be found in the most remote places in Japan. Even in the Pacific along the coast, high up on Mount Fuji and in the dense, uninhabited forests outside of the big cities, the torii are not uncommon.

In order to give each torii the necessary space for a dominant presence and at the same time to achieve a simple, minimalist image effect, I used strong neutral density filters for taking photos, which helped me achieve exposure times of five minutes and longer to make all the disturbing elements in the photo disappear . The longer the exposure time, the more clearly the existing wave structures of the troubled Pacific become blurred in order to take away even the smallest, disturbing picture element from the main subject.

The entire series is very important to me, as I have a very emotional connection to the Torii for an indefinable reason. So I am all the more pleased that the photos in this series were awarded 1st place at the Sony World Photography Awards in the landscape category."

https://www.bewegungsunschaerfe.de/de/torii