We are appealing to our friends and supporters to sponsor a square meter of thatch at R200 or more to help us to renew the deteriorated and leaking thatch roof over our studio. We need R110,000.00 to rethatch it to keep us high and dry over the summer rains.
I built the studio some 35 years ago. The oval shape is based on the earliest prototypes of meditation halls in India and Sri Lanka which I saw in my early travels to the East. The structure of the studio and meditation hall at the BRC mirrors the ancient assembly halls, Viharas, found in the ruined city of Anaradhapura. This design appealed to me because it allows your gaze to circulate along the curved interior of the building rather than being interrupted by a wall suddenly turning at a right angle. This, l felt, would encourage the mind to ease into a sense of continuity and spaciousness. I chose to use thatch and timber rafters rather than man-made materials such as trusses and corrugated iron as this would be as close to nature as one could get sitting inside a building. The drawback, of course, is that thatch deteriorates over time and needs renewing. That time has now arrived.
- Louis van Loon BRC Newsflash October 2019
If you would like to help, please use Roof as reference and find our banking details below:
Buddhist Institute of South Africa
FNB Ixopo
Account No: 52555029829
Branch Code: 220223