concrete ring wraps around rubén valdez practice's spiritual enclosure in mexico desert

spiritual enclosure opens up to the sky in todos santos desert

Rubén Valdez Practice’s Spiritual Enclosure is a quiet, circular intervention designed for reflection in the desert of Todos Santos, Mexico. Commissioned by Paradero Hotels as a non-religious ceremony space, the project consciously works with light, material, and orientation, carved into the arid terrain and partially sunken as its circular concrete ring emerges just above ground level. Inside, the surface is left raw and exposed, with only the compacted earth underfoot containing it while it opens up to the sky.

Entry into Spiritual Enclosure is indirect, beginning with a single baffled ramp, rotated 45 degrees from the central axis, that leads visitors through a gradual sequence of turns before the full space is revealed. The decelerated approach here deepens the spatial transition from the exterior desert into the enclosure in a motion that mirrors the site’s ceremonial function.

all images by César Béjar

rubén valdez practice references spirituality in mexican culture

Organic curves and minimal detailing allow the enclosure to dissolve into the landscape while framing its boundaries. A single semi-circular aperture opens the space toward distant mountain ridgelines, while a full circle of the sky is revealed within the boundary of the walls. Further, Rubén Valdez Practice orients the structure along an east-west axis, which allows the sun’s movement to register throughout the day and cast shifting shadows that mark the passage of time.

The space inside is vast and open, adorned with only rows of wooden benches and a polished obsidian disc, the latter referencing tezcatl mirrors that have been used for centuries in Mesoamerican cultures as tools of reflection and spiritual insight. Here, the Switzerland-based architects utilize the mirror as a visual and symbolic anchor, functioning as a small reflective void within the open circle. 

Spiritual Enclosure is a quiet, circular intervention designed for reflection

Rubén Valdez Practice carves the structure in the Mexican desert

partially sunken as its circular ring emerges just above ground level

crafted from concrete

a single semi-circular aperture opens the space toward distant mountain ridgelines

the materiality infuses a natural warmth

a polished obsidian disc references tezcatl mirrors that have been used for centuries in Mesoamerican cultures

entry into Spiritual Enclosure is indirect

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project info:

name: Spiritual Enclosure

architect: Rubén Valdez Practice | @rubenvaldezpractice

location: Todos Santos, Mexico

photographer: César Béjar | @cesarbejarstudio