The Zen style is emerging as the fashion trend in architecture and interior design. The people are looking for, achieving harmony and peace needed to relax and meditate.

Many eat sushi, others practice tai chi chuan and some are dressed in kimonos. More and more adherents to the customs and Eastern philosophies. The fashion and cuisine and is molded to the phenomenon that began in Argentina in recent years. And thanks to the Zen style, architecture was not far behind.

According to the designers and architects, is the most avant-garde trend setting and construction time. One reason why this line, away from classicism is increasingly in demand by the people, can be chaotic world in which we live. Stress, fast time and work obligations make it difficult to relax, causing one can never “switch off”. Thus, the environment (either the home or office) plays a critical role in mood and mood of the person, facilitating self-knowledge. “Meditation transforms, is like surgery without anesthesia of the mind. Heals and restores. It is an immeasurable path to inner freedom,” writes Ramiro Street in The Book of the yogas. This is what Zen style points whose essence is precisely to impose harmony in the environment to achieve spiritual balance.

The Buddhist philosophy is a different way of understanding life and, in architecture, he broke with many of the classic tenets and conventions. The white floors and beech furniture and bright rooms are the most important. Everything should be arranged to cause welfare to touch, sight and hearing. “You have to forget the golden ornamentation and light charged artificially ensures Baranzelli of EstiloAmbientación Cesar Perez – predominate furniture lines and unvarnished virgin wood, natural fibers and bedding to the ground. ”

The famous zen store Muji, Japan, was the architect Kazuhiko Namba sponsor for the construction of a house that many call minimalist zen: the perfect home. The designer Tokujin Yoshioka and a team put the finishing touches to make large rooms, painted white with light wood floors and furniture specially designed so that all things are in perfect order and balance. Two bright levels connected by an opening on the top floor reached a simple environment in straight lines and that nothing obstructs the view or the passage of sunlight.

But it is not necessary to pull back walls and build the house to have even a few items of this type of architecture. You can also use the setting of existing spaces.

Highlights in a Zen space are sobriety and comfort, as it seeks to live comfortably and smoothly. It also attaches great importance to the contact with nature: “This interaction is essential for setting befitting this Oriental philosophy. You can include rocks, water, fire and earth,” said Perez Baranzelli.

“People increasingly ask this type of design. In Argentina, alternative therapies such as yoga are very common and this makes them look for these environments,” says Marcela Rodríguez Barrena, organizer of the Rincón Zen Estilo Pilar sample of this year. He adds: “All material is put aside and the house is transformed into a kind of monastery.”

However, sometimes it is advisable to put a limit and try a mixture of styles. “It is true that Eastern houses are an example of perfection Baranzelli Pérez-shoot. But sometimes, a well decorated home can be shocking. Do not forget that we are living far away from Japan.”

Philosophy or religion?

Many times we hear of Zen, but do not know its origin or content. Relate it with meditation and the spiritual, we do not know what it is.

Is it a religious belief or teaching of a sage? The better answer would be that it is a lifestyle characterized by reaching a self that allows us to be spontaneous again.

The Zen or Ch’an was born of the marriage of Hindu philosophy with Taoism and Confucianism, and took each of these thoughts premises that managed to create a mystical way of life and pragmatic. Its main objective is to look to the nature and attain enlightenment (satori) achieved by the Buddha.

But this does not mean isolation from the world, but rather, to participate actively in daily life. It is in our everyday experiences, in the minds of every day.

However, this does not remove its mystical character, to live entirely in the present, you can admire and appreciate their mystery in every situation. Invites you to enjoy every moment in a natural and spontaneous. In this way, lighting can manifest itself in different activities, such as the arts (painting, calligraphy, garden design) or in various ceremonies (serving tea or judo).

There are currently two main schools of Zen in Japan differ in their teaching methods. Rinzai and Soto or sudden or gradual. In both streams is valued sitting meditation (zazen), whose posture and breathing is the first thing a student should learn.