A Minimalist Chapel Opens in the Czech Republic
Julie V Iovine
The New York Times
02 September 2004
02 September 2004
Five years ago, John Pawson, the minimalist British architect known for championing the least-is-more look, was hired by a group of brown-robed Cistercian monks from France to build a monastery in the Czech Republic.
The result, the Novy Dvur monastery, will be dedicated today and the public will have free access to it and its church for the first and only time; hundreds of people are expected to attend.
The starkly white building of cast and polished concrete, plaster and wood is grafted onto the back of an 18th-century manor house that floats gently on a lushly rolling Bohemian landscape. The building, which includes a glassed-in cloister and a dormitory for 40, will be home to 23 monks, about 10 of them Czech, who are relocating from the Sept-Fons abbey in France.
For the project, Mr. Pawson spent a week living with the monks, whose order was founded in France in 1132. The monks, who have made a commitment to live in poverty and in silence, rise several times during the night for prayer. Mr. Pawson rose with them, washed dishes when they washed dishes, and watched them negotiate tight corners in their voluminous robes. He also interviewed the monks about their daily routines. (There is no ban on essential communication.) They told him, for instance, that the church had to have a bell tower. They also said that some brethren snore heavily. (Mr. Pawson gave them their bell tower and designed a sound shield for part of the dormitory.)
The cloister passageway was a challenge because the monks wanted that area, which connects their daytime and nighttime activities, all on one level, and the site was steeply sloping. The long, vaulted cloister is thus, at one point, a full story above ground. By cantilevering the barrel vault šver the passageway, which is lined with glass Windows, Mr. Pawson was abie to eliminate the need for columns. He is especially pleased with a sculptured cast-concrete channel at the base of the elongated Windows that collects rainwater. The trough throws glints of reflected sunlight into the vaulted ceiling.
The monks will eventually enter into one of their traditional modes of low-key entrepreneurship. The Cistercians, already known for their farming and jŠrn making, are thinking of bottling water Ñ the famous Marienbad spa is nearby Ñ or even making hand cream. Mr. Pawson will design a guesthouse, sheep shed and workshops for them as well.
He fully appreciates the significance to getting everything right: "With a private house, you always get involved with the nitty-gritty," he said. "But usually the homeowners go away sometime for holidays or they eventually sell the house. With monks, they are never, ever going to leave, not even to visit town. The monastery is their entire world."