ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF HEALTHCARE FACILITIES. Meditation Centre on Mount Olympus, Greece

Introduction
This is a project that proceeded from a thesis proposal in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. The team consisted of two students from Aristotle University, Ms Christina Foka, Mr NasosZempiloglou, Mr Chrysafidis as the supervisor, and Ms Maria Kanetsou and Mr Kallikratis Evlogimenos as external associates. The project concerns the design of meditation centre on Mount Olympus in Greece.
The main aim for the project, as set by the design team, was to submit a proposal satisfying not only functional and aesthetic parameters, but also environmental and sustainable requirements, in the form of light-structure pavilionsin harmony with nature.
There was a particular interest on the benefits of meditation for both mental and physical health. In contradiction to Descartes writings about the autonomous nature of body and soul, which shaped human perception for centuries, the recent comprehension of the interrelation between the two, and the understating of wellness from a holistic perspective, led to our decision to study the potential of such facilities in natural environments. In the theoretical level, the main axis that determined both the programme and the design of the proposal are the practises of mediation and the theory of Chakras, on the one hand, and theories related to geomagnetic fields, on the other.