Rubén Valdez . photos: © César Béjar
A non-religious ceremony space that exists in close dialogue with the surrounding landscape and sky of the the South Baja California Desert.
The intimate circular enclosure sits semi-buried in the desert terrain, symbolising a relationship with the surrounding landscape. Bare earth underfoot and an open-air roof reinforce a transcendental connection to the earth and the cosmos.
The interior of the enclosure is left largely unadorned, save for a polished obsidian mirror modelled after the traditional texcatl mirrors used for centuries in Mexican culture as objects of reflection and spiritual divination.
The shape of the structure carefully frames the surrounding landscape, with a semi-circular aperture providing views out onto the mountains beyond, while the skies above are framed within the circular walls.
The structure is oriented along an east-west axis, allowing the movement of the sun to reflect both the passage of time and the ever-changing light of the desert. A single baffled entranceway offset by 45° from the interior axis gradually reveals the space upon entry and creates a sense of seclusion that adds to the ceremonial nature of the site.
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