Contradiction in the making of a sacred monolith

Abstract

This Thesis deals with the understanding of the essence of sacred object and sacred space as related to the way they are composed and perceived as sequences of intersecting architectural motifs. The design project is a sacred community for religious living amidst a secular urban context - a home for a group of eight monks from the Monastery of Sainte Marie de La Tourette, representing the Dominican Order in the small town of Croix en Touraine in the Loire Valley of France. The Project is approached through a continuous dialogue between the architecture of the Convent of Sainte Marie de La Tourette and this new convent. This process aims at the thorough study, understanding and use of this precedent, not simply as a reference, but as a strategic architectural palette for the development of the new design. The purpose is a) the discovery and study of architectonic contradictions used in the design of this unique sacred community, and b) their use for the creation of the new design.