Recollection in a vessel of water and light
The act of meditation inspires the new abbey: light and water are captured in a vessel where one meditates. These meditations harmonize with the architecture of the monastery's cloister galleries; the echo of their silence resonates in the cloister of the guesthouse, around the enclosure, and throughout the site. The waves of these meditative vessels spread like a series of concentric circles on the water. The monks' cloister, at the center of the ensemble, generates the organization of the monastery, the guesthouse and the park.
Everywhere, the spaces are sensitive to water and light. The church, heart of the abbey, is a vessel of light. To the east, its wall invites the dawn to be reflected on the altar and the nave is transformed according to the diurnal and seasonal rhythms of the sun. Elsewhere, a luminous garden runs longitudinally through the east wing, so that natural light penetrates the spaces that border it - chapter, parlor, scriptorium on one side and the care area on the other. Around the cloisters, the roofs curve to collect water, which is channeled into a gutter and then filtered as it flows into a large cistern under the courtyard. In this way, the synergy of the building is transmitted to each individual who inhabits it.
In this dense forest, the abbey is a clearing open to the sky and a vessel of recollection. It is not a wall, but an opening, a walkway, that encloses the abbey. This peripheral gallery is covered and opens onto the forest, enveloping the four wings of the monastery and extending to form the cloister of the hostelry. Further on, the paths encircle the abbey and propagate its movement, while being punctuated by clearings that mark the walk and meditation. The cloister is thus a model that is reflected and repeated. The recollection that animates it is manifest in the architecture of the abbey as well as in the activities that it gathers.
(From competitor's text)
(Unofficial automated translation)
13 scanned / 11 viewable
- Presentation Panel
- Elevation
- Section
- Perspective
- Photograph of Model
- Photograph of Model
- Photograph of Model
- Photograph
- Site Plan
- Plan
- Axonometric Drawing
