Joshua Tree, California, USA

Located next to the Joshua Tree National Park, Patrick Tighe’s Stilness is a “temple”, a 10,000-square-foot space that serves as the hub of the facility and is encompassed by a large sunken desert garden.

Stillness has recently been awarded a 2023 American Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture, Design, and Urban Studies.

 A variety of galleries (spaces for curated experiences that use art and programming to further explore and uplift the human spirit.) offer optimal flexibility.

A series of thoroughfares connect the galleries and provide a myriad of experiences to the visitor.

Ultimately, the experience culminates with the arrival at the grand hall “temple”. A place for secular worship, stillness, and contemplation.

This exterior space is carved out of the landscape, and the bowl embraces and protects the programmed spaces.

The project is conceived as a journey of awareness, the spaces are configured within the desert earthwork.

A variety of gallery-like spaces offer optimal flexibility.

Ultimately the experience culminates with the arrival at the grand hall temple: A place for secular worship, stillness, and contemplation.

The Center aims to engage the human spirit and create a journey that provides a backdrop for the visitor to experience stillness, harmony, and the expansion of one’s consciousness.

The goals of the Center are to provide the general public with a visceral experience of presence, mindfulness, and healing, artists with a proper platform to explore and present work at the intersection of consciousness and art, and wellness practitioners with a unique space to administer their teachings.

Project: Stillness
Architects: Tighe Architecture
Lead Architect: Patrick Tighe
Client: Private
Renderings: Tighe Architecture