Mind over Matter
“Rome in ruins has had more influence on architecture… than it ever would brand-new. What you can’t see, you can imagine.” -Excerpt from the script of “The Belly of an Architect” (1987), Peter Greenaway
Even if one does not know about Santa Maria Del Piano’s historical significance, one would agree that it possess a primitive allure, a spatial pull that transcends history.
The journey one takes to reach the decays of the Abbey in itself acts as a gradual transitional phase for an act of meditation and mindfulness. The way one moves from the hustle-bustle of human settlements towards the wilderness of nature and the peaceful bucolic landscape of Italy slowly engulfs the traveler into its ever-present aura.
The history itself has been very dynamic in nature when it comes to the abbey, in its former glory it was a place of worship, and from there at a point in time, it even became a cemetery.
Gaston Bachelard in The Poetics of Space writes : “A house constitutes a body of images that give mankind proofs or illusions of stability.”
The present condition of having no roof, no floor, and the lack of windows and doors in its apertures is very befitting to that function as it denies the safety or even the illusion of existence of life.
But as time has passed the focus shifts from religion to meditation, the space wants to transcend from that state of deterioration and evolve into a space of introspection. From a place of excellence and eventual decay now it wants to call out to its virtue.
Is it just a relic of the past? Or can it be an icon of the future? Is it an alien object situated among nature? Or Is it a synthetic object taken over by nature? Is it defined by the heavy stone walls that have stood up to the test of time? Or is it defined by the ever-present sky acting as a superficial roof above it? Is it enclosed? Or is it open?
To answer these contrasts seems to be impossible, as they are not just mere contradictions but rather pluralities the space possesses. The act of meditation in itself is to bring harmony between the plural existence. We believe that the answer lies somewhere in between those plural questions, and our attempt is to define our spatial interventions which fall somewhere in between as well.
Our proposal for reusing the abbey as a meditation space is ephemeral in nature and attempts to enhance the permanence quality of the existing elements. Our imagination comes from the idea of the transitory phase in which a building may look like it is either in a ruined state or it can also be interpreted that a building is in a state of ongoing construction. After all even an unfinished building can also look like a ruin if we remove the scaffolding. So what happens when scaffolding is inserted into a ruin? The space is now both, it is a relic of the past being preserved and it is also an icon of the future shaping up. The present connects the past and the future. The light-weight steel structure is temporary while the heavy stone walls are omnipresent. From a distance, in an existing bucolic and nature-dominated fabric, the conditions of ruins will be seen untouched as it is. However, one can also notice the dense grid-like scaffolding structure emerging from the inside, as if the fallen roof of the church is getting assembled again.
From the inside currently, the lack of a defined floor has allowed the weeds and creepers to climb up to the wall, which not only damages the structural integrity but also suggests a state of abundance and neglect. Thus the space around the existing walls is treated with the definition of flooring and plinth, the plinth protects the walls from further deterioration. It also by spatial conditions dignifies the presence of the walls and gives them an established datum and surface to rest upon. Thin lightweight metal members rise from the periphery and create an envelope and in the center, there is nothing but a vast sand pit.
There are several connotations for the approach of introducing just loose sand. Sand is in a state of permanence and is also in a state of transient both at the same time. It is ever-present but constantly redefines its form according to the forces and conditions around it. It is a natural element confined within the man-made walls. A building comes into existence in the physical domain with the help of sand as a construction material, but as with all things, when the building decays it turns into sand and dust again.
And by sand’s shapeshifting abilities, functionally it gives more flexibility to the space and can make the space multi-functional. By simply modulation of the sand, one can have different kinds of spatial varieties suitable for different kinds of functions. May it be for congregational performance space by creating a gentle natural amphitheater-like slope, may it be for workshops and yoga by modulating the contours of sands into a flat terrain, or may it be turned into a space for introspection by making small separate dunes or depressions in the sand for personal individual spaces. The ever-changing nature of sand also gives different spatial qualities and makes the space experientially engaging and timeless. Every time one visits the meditation center it is a slightly different experience than it was before. The scaffolding-like structure makes the dense grid above act as a permeable roof and ignites the imagination of the inhabitants of a roof about to take shape. The lightweight steel structure gives contrast to the existing heavy stone walls. The density and volume of a three-dimensional grid allow the light to penetrate with different intensities. The steel members also allow possibilities for covering the roof with fabric or tensile materials. Thus as the existing four walls are constant, the other two surfaces that are proposed interventions - the floor and the roof both are dynamic in nature. The architecture itself tries to find harmony between the two plural states as the inhibitors of the space try to find the balance within themselves as they meditate. The ruins of the convent are repurposed into a communal kitchen and act as a space for social activities.
The other important spatial element is a tower which has a strong established architectural presence and acts as a visual point of reference. While the obvious response would be to celebrate its height and give vertical access to the view from above, it is important to remember that the bell tower was always associated with sound rather than view. So this proposal explores the possibility of a small meditation space in the bell tower with wind chimes and rows of small bells chiming above the meditative space.
This is an attempt to propose the idea of finding the balance between dichotomy. Architecture much like our human mind is plural and dynamic in nature. It wants to tell the stories of the days gone but also wishes to stay relevant for the days to come.
