The new Healing Pavilion and toilet facility are part of a natural network of green trails that lays gently along the mountain connecting various open spaces and facilities.
It is a dynamic network made for visitors to walk. Departing from the parking lots, visitors can experience a journey of beautiful mountain sceneries. While walking the nature trails, visitors might need a moment to rest or enjoy nature-related activities.
The new Healing Pavilion and toilet facility provide opportunities for resting adjacent to the trails. Both buildings are designed taking into account the dynamics of the place, understanding that the key element to the Master Plan is the movement of people to enjoy Nature and that the pavilion is just a support to that movement.
The new Healing Pavilion sits on the slopes of the mountain’s valley with a significant change of level from the higher to the lower point of the site.
The new building wants to “work with the existing topography” adapting its form and organization to the contour lines of the terrain. In order to preserve the universal access to the building (accessible to disable) the building gently falls down the slope in a “zig-zag” configuration in a similar way as the pedestrian paths do. This massing of the building allows for trees and other natural species to intertwine increasing the natural character of the new building.
The building is longitudinal and on one single level. The linear façades are parallel to the contour lines and, therefore, maximize the views of the mountain. The end and beginning of the building connect naturally with the existing pedestrian pathways creating a seamless transition between outdoor and indoor spaces.
The toilet building is located on the lower part of the site and near the parking. The privacy of the users is preserved by allowing enough distance to the parking area and by planting trees around the building.
The new Healing Pavilion is designed to support visitors’ natural experience when walking along the natural trails. The pavilion is part of that people’s movement absorbing the physical trail as part of the new building.
The idea is to create a pavilion by simply covering a portion of the natural pathway and by doing so providing a variety of programs (healing, sharing kitchen, lecture, or restaurant) under that roof. Visitors walking the mountain will have the choice of whether to pass through the pavilion without stopping or to divert their journey and enter one of the activities offered in the pavilion. The building is designed openly, with no single main entrance but instead with various access points located along the pathway.
