Sanctuary Tunnel Garden Carves a Sacred Retreat into Nature

CIGOMBONG, INDONESIA - Indonesian architecture studio RAD+ar has completed Sanctuary Tunnel Garden, a 650-square-metre chapel and spiritual retreat designed to create a close relationship between architecture, natural light and the surrounding landscape.

Located on a rural estate in Cigombong, near Bogor, the project combines a semi-public chapel, a spiritual garden dedicated to Mother Mary, a private main retreat villa and a guest villa. Completed in 2025, the development occupies less than 10% of the wider site, allowing the existing trees and landscape to remain a dominant part of the experience.

A chapel hidden within the landscape

Rather than creating a conventional standalone place of worship, RAD+ar developed the project as a sequence of tunnel-like spaces woven through the natural terrain.

The architecture follows the contours of the site, with repeated structural frames, glazed walls and connecting ramps creating changing relationships between enclosed spaces and the surrounding woodland.

Existing mature trees are incorporated between the architectural volumes, while sections of the building are deliberately concealed by vegetation and changes in level.

The concept takes inspiration from the idea of “light and truth at the end of the tunnel”, with the journey through the building gradually leading visitors towards the chapel’s principal sacred space.

Light replaces traditional ornament

RAD+ar approached the religious architecture through a modernist design language, reducing conventional decorative elements and instead using light, scale, structure and landscape to create the spiritual atmosphere.

The chapel features a series of flowing spaces with different levels of enclosure and intimacy. Its undulating structural form is separated from full-height glass walls, opening wide views across the surrounding landscape and allowing daylight to pass deep into the building.

At the end of the chapel’s principal tunnel, natural light highlights the main sacred focal point, reinforcing the architectural concept behind the project.

Water connects architecture and nature

Water also plays an important role throughout Sanctuary Tunnel Garden.

On the lower level, a smaller sacred space connects with bodies of water at both ends. Natural terraces follow the changing terrain and merge with a man-made waterfall, extending the landscape into the architecture.

Together with the transparent façades, these elements create a continuous indoor-outdoor experience where the distinction between chapel, garden and landscape becomes deliberately blurred.

Views through the glass walls change as visitors move through the building, revealing trees, water and planted areas from different perspectives.

A retreat away from the city

Alongside the chapel and spiritual garden, the project includes private accommodation designed as a place for retreat and reflection.

Bedrooms and living spaces look directly towards the surrounding vegetation, continuing the project’s emphasis on openness and visual connections with nature.

RAD+ar describes the architecture as a response to the fast pace of urban life, creating spaces intended for silence, prayer and retreat within the rural landscape.

Sanctuary Tunnel Garden was designed by lead architects Partogi Pandiangan and Antonius Richard Rusli of RAD+ar and completed in 2025.

Project: Sanctuary Tunnel Garden

Location: Cigombong, Indonesia

Architect: RAD+ar

Lead Architects: Partogi Pandiangan, Antonius Richard Rusli

Completed: 2025

Photography: Ernest Theofilus and Mario Wibowo