MONASTIC MOTEL
Located on a landfill site on the outskirts of Cambridge the proposal subverts its landscape to develop an architecture of secular sacrality: the monastic motel. The project speculates on the future of a soon-to-be decommissioned landfill site in Milton, Cambridgeshire, as space of contemplation and reflection. Building upon the examination of spaces of knowledge, and the typology of the monastic cell, in Hinc Lucem et Pocula Sacra, a cloistered geometric order is devleoped. This order is then disrupted by using the gas extraction wells found on the site as nodes, looking to contextualise these within the previously defined grid. These nodes become symbolic reminders of the landscape beneath and central to cloisters formed on the site. In conjunction, the typology of the motel is combined with that of the monastery to propose communal eating and studio spaces and further internalised cloistered living spaces. Expanding further afield the project considers the landfill site as an area to be remediated. This landscape becomes a parkland in which the building is situated; ultimately mediating the thresholds between levels of enclosure, and the landscapes they contain.
hinc lucem et pocula sacra
accompanying short film
MONASTIC MOTEL
Located on a landfill site on the outskirts of Cambridge the proposal subverts its landscape to develop an architecture of secular sacrality: the monastic motel.
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The project speculates on the future of a soon-to-be decommissioned landfill site in Milton, Cambridgeshire, as space of contemplation and reflection. By examining spaces of knowledge, and the typology of the monastic cell, the project builds upon Hinc Lucem et Pocula Sacra to understand the cloister as a space of learning. Using the geometry found within this study the work develops a geometric order. This order is then disrupted by using the gas extraction wells found on the site as nodes, looking to contextualise these within the previously defined grid. These nodes become symbolic reminders of the landscape beneath and central to cloisters formed on the site. In conjunction with this the typology of the motel is combined with that of the monastery to propose communal eating and studio spaces and further internalised cloistered living spaces. The project also seeks to expand its view further afield, considering the landscape of the landfill site as an area to be remediated. This landscape becomes a parkland in which the building is situated; ultimately mediating the thresholds between levels of enclosure, and the landscapes they contain.
hinc lucem et pocula sacra
accompanying short film