A few monastic precedents

There are countless stunning monasteries across the globe, of varying size, quality and configuration. I just wanted to share a few images of my favourite ones. There are also hundreds of stunning chapels and retreats that I could share with you but I will leave you with the monastic examples of Novy Dvur in the Czech Republic, the Tautra Maria Convent in Norway and, of course, La Tourette in France.

Novy Dvur

Tautra Maria Convent

La Tourette

Not where I thought I would be...

So, the latest developments of this project have been somewhat unexpected. Having produced a lot of research about the terrain vague, theory of the sublime and collective memory, I have moved towards the idea of designing a monastery at Stanley Dock.

This is not exactly what I had thought would be the typology for my final thesis design project, however, after careful evaluation, it can be said that this site lends itself perfectly to the criteria needed for a monastery - solitude, silence, simplicity, a place to surrender, a place to provoke contemplation and a place to reflect.

As a result, further investigations into who I would be designing for began. And behold.... The Carmelites of Liverpool, a small monastery located in the West Derby area of the city, who are currently looking to relocate to gain a more contemplative lifestyle away from the noise of its current site.

I spent 3 days at the monastery, living the life of a sister. Whilst I can wholeheartedly say it is not the way of life I would choose, I did gain a solid and deep understanding of how a monastery works on a day to day basis. I was also lucky enough to sit in on the architects meeting which discussed some of the key design issues - the chapel, the parlour and the cells. The architects working on the scheme are Austin-Smith: Lord, a large firm with an office in Liverpool. The site of the new monastery for the Carmelite Sisters will be at Maryton Grange, a leafy suburb in south east Liverpool.... somewhat different to Stanley Dock!

Here are a few keys images from my monastic visit.

The approach to the monastery - high brick wall and solid iron gateway

The refectory - the nuns eat here in silence at every meal time

The cloister walk - one of the most peaceful places

The view into the Sister's Choir through the grill, from the main Chapel

The view from my bedroom window, into the courtyard. The steps in the middle lead up to the Main Chapel

I would like to thank Sister Mary of the Carmelites and all the other sisters for such an interesting few days at the monastery, for providing me with a lot of valuable information to help with my project and for their kind hospitality - I have never eaten or slept so well! - the monastery really was a place of silence and solitude.

What is a Retreat?

The site model has been put on hold whilst further research is undertaken, but rest assured, this model will be produced but at a later stage. In the meantime, the questions to consider are....

1. What is a retreat?
2. What type of retreat will I design?
3. How will I go about this?
4. What are the current plans for the Stanley Dock site?

All questions to be answered shortly, but for now, we will stick to question number one, What is a Retreat?

- (military) withdrawal of troops to a more favorable position to escape the enemy’s superior forces or after a defeat
- a place of privacy; a place affording peace and quiet
- move away, as for privacy; “The Pope retreats to Castelgondolfo every summer”
- hideaway: an area where you can be alone
- retrograde: move back; “The glacier retrogrades”
- retirement: withdrawal for prayer and study and meditation; “the religious retreat is a form of vacation activity”
- make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity; “We’ll have to crawfish out from meeting with him”; “He backed out of his earlier promise”; “The aggressive investment company pulled in its horns”
- the act of withdrawing or going backward (especially to escape something hazardous or unpleasant)

The term retreat has several related meanings, all of which have in common the notion of safety or temporarily removing oneself from one’s usual environment in order to become immersed in a particular subject matter. The four key words to explain a retreat are SILENCE, SOLITUDE, SURRENDER and SIMPLICITY.
Various examples of possible retreats to design could be....

- monastery
- convent
- writers retreat
- artist retreat
- spa retreat
- work retreats
- disaster relief centre
- health recovery
- disobedient children’s centre

Absence

Hello and a Happy New Year to anyone still checking back on my blog. Apologies for the lack of posting over the past month or so, it has been a busy time with Christmas, New Year and of course, the writing of a Thesis Research Document and a Seminar Paper!

As such, there hasn't really been much to say on here. However, both documents are now complete, hurrah! I won't be uploading the whole document to my blog but here are a couple of example spreads from the Thesis Research Document.

The Seminar Paper follows a similar aesthetic but takes a more indepth look at the sublime whilst incorporating the ideas of memory and the terrain vague as studied throughout this semester.

Whilst the first semester has technically finished, the thesis train continues on with full momentum, and so the next steps will see a large scale accurate site model being produced. This model will be used to explore the site further, particularly around the areas that are currently inaccessible to human exploration. As such, the model will be able to be assembled, disassembled and reassembled again allowing a small endoscopic camera to be positioned inside and inbetween the more difficult areas. The aim of this being to determine where key interventions across the site will take place.

First decisions to make are

1. exact area of site to replicate

2. scale of model

3. construction methods and materials used

4. methods of disassembly

More to come over the next few weeks...

Hope you all had a lovely festive period.