Reimaging the vestige of ancient cathedrals as places for innovation and artistic experimentation. This is the challenge of Art Cathedral that touches different levels providing topics of particular scientific importance.

 

Firstly, the competition aims to redefine the contemporary paradigm through the relation with the historic pre-existence. The challenge of Art Cathedral lies in overcoming the preservative/museum model imaging contemporary architecture as a historic experience of great dignity.

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Secondly, the competition launches the cultural challenge of relating completely secularized art and traditional places of worship. Architects can do so by creating a dimension of artistic ascesis from architectures that were originally designed for religious ecstasy. Ruins will be the site-specific context for installations, picturesque views as artist residences to promote creative thinking and action, large outdoor arenas for performances or a visit to the priory in the virtuality of the metaverse.

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Clark Architecture's Initial intuitive analysis of the site envisaged a contemplative journey through the system of ruins, where an analysis of connection and fluidity of negative and positive spaces were evaluated. Key nodes were identified and established following on from this an interconnectivity was developed between the existing system of ruins and the new intervention.

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The proposals seek to touch the ground lightly. This approach seeks to minimize the impact of the structures on its surroundings, both in terms of its physical presence and its environmental footprint. 

By lightly touching the ground the proposals create a sense of connection to the surrounding landscape and provide unique, elevated views.

 

The intervention is based on a palimpsest laid over the site which gives rise to a re-editing of the existing ruins. When reading architecture as a Palimpsest, it can be interpreted to have three different meanings: the former meaning, the new meaning, and a hybrid interpretation when reading the remains with the new. As the leftovers of the past appear partially through the new, the new work becomes a superposition of the old, making a simultaneous reading of the old and the new.

Abstract Palimpsest is a re-editing process in which the existing layers of objects or traces were covered or removed, partially or completely.

 

The form of this palimpsest is highlighted through a single material manipulated to provide walkways, platforms, covered spaces as well as places to sit and pause. Other areas of this form are sculpted into stairs that afford access to various new look out points allowing the user to uncover a new experience of the century’s old site. In other areas the palimpsest has been elevated to create pavilions that can be experienced under as well as on top of.

The palimpsest extends to the areas of the site that exist above the ground floor. A series of elevated walkways have been crafted from the palimpsest that visitors can climb to re-imagine the site providing previously unseen views of the site.