LINEAR SYSTEM: a Monastery as

a ritualistic procession defined in an open landscape

 

 

 

Design Studio

Arch. Valerio OLGIATI

MSc 1 SEM 1, Academy of Architecture, USI

A.y. 2013/2014

 

 

 

Concept:

 

My Answer to the topic “Linear System” is a motion, a flow into spaces definied by one continuous wall. The project is an enclosed space in which the monastic life becomes a system, a repetition of the same functions and spaces in a linear way. The site is a desert: a location where you freely move with no direction in contrast with my microcosm in which you move in a specific direction as a form of ritual. The juxtaposition of these two spatial conditions, free movement and pathway, intensifies the experience of both, imbuing each with a ritualistic character.

 

 

 

Project:

 

The underground floor (3 meters below ground level) is the “seclusion area” where the 12 heremits’ cells provided with their own service and a private courtyard are located. This architectural idea follows the Lavra as a typology of monastery for hermits built since the 4th century where solitary living and community life were combined within a microcosm. In the center there is a dew well where drinkable water is collected by the condensation that occurs because of the difference of temperature between daytime and nightime. The core, the inner space, the end of the spiral becames the most open, unacessible space where a dew pond is placed. There is also a storage that connects the ground floor with a ramp. The groundfloor is where the comunity life takes place. The continuous wall that defines spaces outside produces two niches that provide shadow and a place where monks can sit on the ground and look into the horizon. The light comes from above, from openings that remind a fabric stitching. The continous wall runs to the end of the system. From outside it looks like an enigmatic object, almost impenetrable because of the lack of openings. This creates a visual break between the desert and the monastery.