Vertical monastery

Advanced Design

Professor: Marlon Blackwell

The vertical monastery is an urban prototype that addresses new forms of monasticism. New monasticism embraces community outreach in place of reflective isolation. Many of these new organizations are locating in urban areas. However, there has been no effort to typify an architecture for this emerging phenomenon. 

Located along the Mississippi River bluffs in Memphis, the urban monastery must balance the values of new monasticism (outreach and activism) with those of traditional monasticism (isolation and reflection) by being porous and connected to the community, yet simultaneously opaque and introspective. The building is anchored at the top by the most sacred programs. At the base, an apiary and meadery engage the surrounding neighborhood. The resulting programmatic gradient is accompanied by a gradated structural system that generates a range of spatial conditions. These spaces vary in terms of organization and light quality to accommodate the seemingly contrary values of new and traditional monasticism.

The deconstructive analysis of Le Corbusier’s La Tourette Monastery and its vertical reconstruction on a smaller site served as a conceptual basis for the design of the vertical monastery. The analysis of La Tourette revealed a programmatic gradient (from profane to sacred) and the corresponding internally or externally-focused circulation spaces. These elements guided the reconstruction of La Tourette, in which the programmatic gradient was shifted to the vertical dimension. In both the original and reconstructed La Tourette, the monks’ cells are positioned adjacent to the entire programmatic gradient with the exception of the church, allowing for variable engagement with the monastery depending on the monk’s status—lay brother, novice or monk.

The programs are arranged with the most sacred at the top and the most profane at the bottom. The church and chapel serve as the spiritual anchor at the top of the building. Intellectual programs, such as the library and classrooms that are situated lower in the building, serve both the public and the monastic community. An apiary and meadery fully engage the public and serve as the primary revenue stream for the monastery. Living cells are distributed vertically throughout the building so that monks that living in the building long-term are able toexperience more intense, isolated devotion, and people that are engaging the building on a more short-term basis are situated closer to the intellectual and community spaces. 

At the top, the columns occur rigidly at the vertices of the grid. Towards the base, they begin to move away from the vertices, while remaining on a beam. This gives the effect of an open and seemingly random spatial organization lower in the building. As one ascends, they begin in spaces that are bright and side-lit and move towards dark and top-lit spaces that convey a sacred atmosphere of introspection.