Project Description
New construction Benedictine Monastery Tabgha, Lake of Galilei, Israel.
In 2002 the architects Peitz-Hillinger were commissioned to prepare a masterplan for the area
of about 3 hectares between the shore of the sea of Galilei and the lakeside Mount of the Beatitudes.
The approved master plan defined the parameters for the construction of a new monastery to the south of the existing Church of the Multiplication.
The design is unmistakably similar to the plans of the 9th century St. Gallen monastery.
An open square cloister of 26 x 26 m meters provides access to the building, The arrangement is unusual because the cloister is to the south, enclosing 10 monks’ cells so that they overlook the monastery courtyard. This means that the cells face the north and are thus protected from direct sunlight. Each of the monks’ cells has a wet room, fitted cupboards and a small individual terrace. The cells on the same level as the church also have a second residential an working level under the ridge roofs.
The church and the new monastery are perceived as a single complex of buildings. This is because the spatial forms were developed by reference to the existing structure, and the exterior appearance was ascetically designed with just three building materials: light colored limestone, concrete surfaces refined with limestone chipping and bush-hammered after drying
and deeply profiled red clay tiles for the roofs. The design of the building’s climate insulation system, combined with the structural cooling/heating system enables the monastery to be operated economically.
Planning program:
cloister gate, chapter house, refectory, oratory, library, convent kitchen, 10 monastic cells,
infirmary, parlor offices, guest hall, oriental diwan, shelter, laundry, guest room.
A little town on its own – for 10 Benedictine brethren – docked along a church with Byzantine origins.