Benedictine Monastery, Education & Retreat Centre at Kylemore Abbey

Project Country: Ireland

Brick Manufacturer: wienerberger Limited

Brick Name: Forum Smoked Branco

Architect: Axo Architects

Brickwork Contractor: Patrick James Construction Ltd

A new female monastery, the first to be constructed in Ireland for almost 400 years, is set in the ruggedly beautiful West of Ireland landscape, in proximity to the celebrated nineteenth century gothic revival Kylemore Abbey, while drawing on long established monastic traditions, perhaps most notably that of the cloister plan form.

The architectural design of this monastery attempts to reconcile interfaces between the public, semi-public and private realms but also between the timeless and contemporary. The building seeks to exploit the challenge of a steeply sloping site, while respecting and enhancing its remarkable natural environment - context, scale, materiality, and visual harmony were never more important.

Kylemore Abbey is today a thriving tourist attraction, far removed from the quiet contemplative monastic estate that it once was. The closure of the boarding school in 2010 brought an end to a regular revenue stream to maintain the upkeep of the estate, so it was necessary to open the estate up to visitors. The visitor numbers grew, and the enclosed space for the Benedictine nuns steadily decreased, year on year.

The challenge was to place a new monastery in the heart of the Kylemore estate where the nuns could practice an enclosed life of prayer and contemplation, while still retaining a connection to the natural landscape that they had enjoyed for most of their lives.

The design of the monastery evolves from a central garth and cloister, unfolding into a series of brick volumes of varying height and scale.

A fractured colonnade on the axis of the existing church and a single-storey public block are placed as a visual buffer for the three-storey enclosed wing on the west side, overlooking the garth, cloister, lake, mountains, church, and abbey.

The slope in the site provided an opportunity to separate the public and enclosed entrances, at two different approaches and two different levels, while volumetrically the building steps up and down, allowing light to penetrate into the garth and allowing selected views to the mountains and lake.

The external natural clay brick finish, which can be reused at the end of life as part of the circular design approach. This finish practically eliminates external maintenance and is a historic nod to the brick buildings built by Mitchell Henry, the original owner of Kylemore Castle and Estate.

Internally, the spaces are serene and dignified, all accentuated with a muted palette of finishes, allowing natural light and views to the Kylemore landscape to take centre stage.

Sustainability

The building has been designed to maximise the use of passive design techniques, in particular daylight and natural ventilation. This passive design approach ensures an enhanced internal environment and minimises energy demand in terms of reducing lighting through daylight control, minimising fan power, and omitting cooling energy entirely.

High façade performance minimises heating energy demand, which is supplemented through the use of a bivalent centralised heating, utilising highly efficient Air source heat pump technology with backup from natural gas boilers. A Photovoltaic Panel Array further reduces energy use and associated carbon emissions.