Samenvatting

The Capucine cloister in Tilburg was established in the 19th century along one of the routes leading out of the city center, as part of the urban expansion that was then taking place. Nearby a nunnery can be found at the other end of a park, the whole being enclosed by a long wall. Now the place has been opened, the park is a public space, time has encroached upon the old fabric and buildings. Can cloister buildings be transformed for living in the 21st century? Will it then still bring the daily rhythm of the rites of life, a communal spirit, a lifelong commitment? And will it now serve families from all generations, together or in changing patterns, and with active individuals pursuing a variety of interests, participating in the neighborhood? The design tries to read modern needs through the changing demography and the fate of vacant estate, sees the theme of the courtyard, combines high-rise with grounded living, adds community to the city, catches the scale of the block. A thorough description of monumental values and new mixed program add up to a thorough transformation, with three wings for housing on flexible floor plans, new entries front and back connecting church and block to main street and yard at the back, the latter leading into the park. In the former inner courtyard, a lifted volume of stacked floors is installed, with a 'route architecturale' winding up to the upper roof terrace. The route follows the diagonal, oriented north-south, and is lit by an oculus high up in the asymmetrically pointed roof. The floors are to be appropriated by the inhabitants and other users, as a free zone and meeting place along the route to the apartments. The route on the first floor is a silent witness to the monks, in the form of a glazed floor on top of the old, covered walkway around the yard, where it leads to a former night chapel hidden on the first floor in a corner of the complex. By implementing the found yet inversed concepts of chapel hood, cloister unbound and sanctuary catalyst in a reformulated framework of clusters and diagonal synthesis, the design strikes a balance in the duality between modern life and monastic living.