Mysticism and spirituality in an unspoiled place

The object of the design is to think to a built  harmoniously inserted in the still unspoiled landscape, both for the choice of the forms, but also of the materials intended to camouflage itself more and more, with the passage of time, into the environment. Wood, stone, zinc, glass, iron are composed in simple geometries, balanced proportions and precise lines for a complex building close to a primitive refuge shaped by wind and carved into the hillside. Aces founding of the monastery are identified from the center line of the Pilgrim Chapel realized in 2001 (long side) outside the complex, which intersects the generative line of the centreline of the cloister "square". The monastery complex consists of a shape of a square with sides of about 40 meters distinguishing inside the area for worship, the facilities accommodation associated with the services and the residence of monks belonging to the Community. At the center is the Cloister, square of 14 meters to the south side stands the refectory, the chapter house and the sacristy are on the east side, while the church volume are on the north side, at last on the west side are the offices and the guest house. The second functional part of the Monastery for the Community of Siloe includes mostly public spaces to be used for conventions, to which the Community is sponsoring for several years, as well as a space library and reading room. The new building on four floors closes the south side of the central cloister of the monastery with a maximum height of mt 8. The quarry faces are morphologically characterized by deep seven pillars that are primarily used to filter the sunlight on the side south and visually remove the public function to the cloister. The roof is only pitched at sunset. The roofing zinc-titanium, as for the rest of the monastery, folds on both long sides as a 'box, in that plan are in fact kept the archives and most valuable books with careful control of the natural light. On the flap, the sheets of zinc-titanium are integrated by photovoltaic panels in amorphous silicon producing about 10 kw of electrical current. The floors are made of wood and the walls in thermal masonry to high thermal inertia. In the basement, overlooking an outdoor amphitheater with a capacity of about 450 people, there is the conference room for 140 people. On the ground floor function room communicates with the foyer and the refectory of the monastery.

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