Holy Cross Monastery Rostrevor

Holy Cross Monastery, Rostrevor, is a new Benedictine monastery that can accommodate twelve monks. Rooney & McConville were appointed as architects and liturgical designers. A deceptively large building has been integrated into a picturesque valley in an 'Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty' (AONB).

Private accommodation for monks has views across the Kilbroney valley taking advantage of its natural contemplative qualities. In contrast, guest accommodation looks down the valley towards the town of Rostrevor and Carlingford Lough beyond.

The external form and design of a large building such as this are broken down into linked pitched-roof pavilions to relate to the scale of nearby dwellings and agricultural buildings.

After a long discernment process shared with the community, a plan was developed that comprised traditional monastic elements such as cloister, church, refectory and chapter room, disposed to keep public and private domain separate whilst adapting to the contours of the site.

The public worship space was inspired by a nearby natural knoll - a prompt by nature as to how such a new building might relate to its context. The ceiling is an abstracted canopy of foliage supported on tree trunks in the form of timber-clad columns that define a man-made knoll within which worship takes place.

Worship inspired by, and in the context of, nature resonates with the history of Roman Catholic worship in Ireland which, for a time, took place in the open, centered on a makeshift altar of rock.