Report: House of Silence near Meschede
The many structures the architect has designed for the Benedectine abbey in Königsmünster, Sauerland, in the course of a 21-year collaboration are crowned by this “keystone” building, the House of Silence – “a place in the world, but not of the world”. Two concrete cubes of equal length but of different widths rise monolithically from the orchard at the point where monastery and town are linked by an open staircase. The two volumes are dissected by a three-metre-wide chasm. The slenderer volume is in the nature of an “accessible wall” – a wall one can enter – where the entrance and staircase are located. From here, one has access to the community rooms and offices at orchard level, and to the cloisters and chapel. Only after ascending the “Jacob’s ladder” staircase and crossing one of the “needle-eye” links does one reach the cells in the larger volume, the House of Silence proper. Within this ascetic cube with its immaculate, restrained use of materials are rooms where guests of all persuasions can reside for one or two weeks to meditate, attend courses and find silence and self-communion.
