Samye Hermitage New York · Current project
The Shrine Hall Improvement Project
A home for practice, teaching, and community. Help us transform the existing building into a shrine hall with more space for the life of the Hermitage.
Give to the Shrine Hall
Preferred design · Decentralized Design Lab · Spring 2026
Why this project
More room for the Dharma
The shrine hall is the heart of Samye, but today it must serve as temple, dormitory, office, and storage all at once. Sound, foot traffic, and sleeping quarters share one open volume, limiting retreats, teachings, and daily practice.
Working with Decentralized Design Lab, the Hermitage has studied how to reuse the existing building and materials while more than doubling the space devoted to practice.
1,215 sq ft
Today’s shrine space
The current practice space occupies 16% of the building.
3,000+ sq ft
Proposed teaching space
The preferred design provides roughly 2.5 times the current shrine space.
One roof
Practice and community
A dedicated hall alongside accommodation and spaces to welcome teachers.
Preferred design: Shrine Hall and dormitory
The preferred design
A hall built around practice
An enlarged shrine area of over 3,000 square feet, with sleeping rooms in a quiet wing along the north edge.
A proper foyer with shoe and coat storage, right-sized accessible bathrooms, and a dedicated place for butter lamps and practice articles.
A staff lounge, kitchen, and greeting room for Rinpoche’s visits. Existing southeast guest rooms remain.
Wide central doors can open the shrine to the foyer for large gatherings, then close for quiet retreat. Materials from the current shrine hall will be reused in the new foyer.
Explore the plans
A closer look at the building
These design studies show the existing layout and the proposed interior and exterior. Select a drawing link to inspect the details at full size.
An invitation to generosity
Help make this place of practice possible
Your offering supports a place where people can sit, study, and practise together for generations to come. Gifts of any size help move the project from drawings toward construction.
Give to the Shrine HallChokgyur Lingpa Foundation · EIN 20-8020758
Sponsor
Ask about dedicating a room, the foyer, or the butter-lamp shrine in honour of a loved one.
Volunteer
Offer your skills and time as the project moves toward construction.
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