Most of the work
the practice has carried out to the listed buildings in the monastery
is invisible stitching and mending. Two rooms have been treated with
particular care; the sacristy and the monks' private chapel.
The sacristy is a room between two worlds; the domestic space of the
monastery and the sacred space of the altar. An old light well between
the church and the priory was converted. Themes of threshold and transition
express this room as a boundary.
The chapel is a conversion of a Victorian room
opening onto the garden. The design contrasts the simple, solid geometry
of the chapel furnishings with the wild profusion of nature outside.
The materials are variations on gold set against the green of the
garden. We used hand blown amber glass, oak, limestone, bees waxed
stucco, linen, leather, brass and gold. There are twelve tall-backed
chairs arranged around the altar to evoke the presence of the disciples.
The tabernacle is a cube of solid laminated oak with a cylinder of
gold inscribed within. It splits open to reveal a hidden space.