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PROJECT: Carmelite Monastery
LOCATION: Kensington, London, UK
CLIENT: The Carmelite Monastery
BUDGET: Undisclosed
COMPLETION: 1996
AWARDS:
Art & Christianity Enquiry Award, 2004
RIAI Award, 1996: Winner
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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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.

 
 
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