Nonetheless Room in Antwerp is designed to be a “shelter for the thoughts”

Multidisciplinary follow Studio Corkinho has accomplished Nonetheless Room, a monastic house inside a 19th-century Antwerp constructing the place people can escape for peaceable contemplation.

Nonetheless Room, which has been sparsely completed with a mattress and a writing desk, emerged out of Studio Corkinho‘s fascination with silence and the way it may be exercised to provide architectural areas a larger sense of that means.

“Our philosophy for Nonetheless Room is to design areas that join individuals to the next function, particularly in an period when time, distance and our consideration spans are more and more compressed, the room’s environment brings us again to our human situation,” defined the studio, which is led by Cédric Etienne and Klas Dalquist.

The room is about contained in the 11-metre-high tower of Noorderpershuis, a former energy station close to the port of Antwerp which was initially erected again in 1878.

As Noorderpershuis is protected, the studio needed to assemble the ultra-tranquil surroundings with out making any main alterations to the constructing’s brick structural shell.

Etienne discovered himself reflecting on his previous travels to Japan, the place he’d usually go to to follow silent meditation in Buddhist monasteries. Throughout his journeys he’d go to conventional teahouses and inns, in any other case often known as ryokans, to “research the vacancy in Japanese conventional structure”.

He additionally drew reference from the minimalist chapels designed by Dom Hans van der Laan, a Dutch Benedictine monk and architect.

Nonetheless Room, subsequently, hosts simply a few timber-framed volumes which have been loosely washed with a bespoke cork-lime plaster. Etienne mentioned that he and the Studio Corkinho crew labored “like alchemists” for six months to search out the fitting floor end.

“I needed to know the influence of pure mild on the chosen textures, and witness how the sunshine from completely different occasions and seasons would work together with the house,” Etienne defined.

One of many volumes frames Nonetheless Room’s entrance, whereas the opposite accommodates a low-lying mattress. The bottom of the mattress is made up of blocks of burnt cork, a cloth which the studio thought would foster a sense of heat inside the house.

Sisal that is been dyed a equally darkish shade of brown has been used to line the ground. A linen craftsman was additionally introduced on board to chalk-dye the room’s curtains, giving them the identical heavy, matt look as curtains seen in previous cloisters.

A desk has been slotted beneath the massive arched window that fronts Nonetheless Room. It is accompanied by a few brown leather-based chairs and cork ornaments from Studio Corkinho’s personal assortment of design items.

Stacked beneath is a number of books about silent meditation and sacred structure.

Studio Corkinho at the moment invitations people to make use of Nonetheless Room, however the house can be for yoga workshops, Japanese-style tea ceremonies and as a classroom for structure college students of the College of Antwerp.

“Whether or not used as a classroom, a contemplative house or as a spot to get pleasure from a second with out enter, the Nonetheless Room allows a ‘shelter for the thoughts’ for the trendy human to anchor his consideration within the current time and house,” concluded the studio.

September of this 12 months noticed the opening of one other silent retreat referred to as The Olive Homes, which is particularly designed for creatives who need a spot to work with out interruption.

The retreat is hidden up in Mallorca’s Tramuntana mountains and contains two small cabins – one for sleeping, one for eating – that are fully off-grid.

Images is by Piet-Albert Goethals.