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Volume 6, 2015 - Issue 3: Spaces of Faith
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Articles

Between Ima Summis and nearness. Dom Hans van der Laan’s Roosenberg Abbey as an example of a contemporary space of worship

Pages 259-288 | Published online: 26 Apr 2016
 

Abstract

Bloomsbury Journals, Spaces of Faith (Vol. 6 Issue 3 – 2015). This paper interweaves the architectural concepts and elementary architecture of Roosenberg Abbey in Belgium with the motivations and search of its creator: the Dutch monk-architect Dom Hans van der Laan (1904–1991). The abbey was built in 1975 for the Marian Sisters of Franciscus, who sought an austere place that adhered closely with their own experience of Catholic faith. Dom Hans van der Laan designed the building as a materialization and testing ground of his ideas put forward in his publications Architectonic Space (1970) and The Play of Forms (1985). Although the religious concepts behind his thoughts grew from his own Benedictine background, he developed an architectural philosophy that aimed to define spaces of worship through universal characteristics as dwelling and living. He interpreted the Dyonisian concept of ‘Ima Summis’ (the lowest in reconciliation with the highest) not from a transcendental perspective, but through the concrete material world of architecture that grew from human experience. For that, he developed the concepts of nearness and superposition, an architectural methodology that combines a classical ordering system with a modern dynamic spatiality. For van der Laan, building a space of faith is to create an order as a layered inside in constant but gradual relation to an outside. He called this concept of interweaving mass and space ‘nearness’. Although his writings are quite poetic, his design methodology with the central concept of ‘superposition’ is very concrete and practical.

For two years, the Marian Sisters of Franciscus have worked together with the philosopher Dr. Marc Colpaert to open up their abbey as a place for contemplation and the study of interreligious dialog. They count amongst their guest lecturers Islamic scholars such as the Pakistani psychologist Prof. Durre Ahmen, who introduces the abbey to Muslims as a place for Ressourcement, and Omar Nahas and Sergio Scattolini, who organize seminars on the reading of the Koran. This shows that the requirements put forward by van der Laan from a Benedictine perspective for the Maria Sisters of Franciscus overcome a specific ideological focus, offering a more universal approach towards the design of spaces of faith. This paper will analyze Roosenberg Abbey as a testimony of these requirements.

Notes

1.    Botte, Dom Xavier. 1960. “Avant-Propos.” In van der Laan, H. Le nombre plastique, Quinze leçons sur l’ ordonnance architectonique, translated by Dom Xavier Botte. Leiden: Brill: ix. ‘(...) car elles nous restituent, dans toute leur objectivité, les lois fondamentales et intrinsèques de l’ architecture. English translation by C. Voet.

2.    van der Laan, H. Werkgroep Kerkelijke Architectuur Breda, Inleiding, 6 April 1946 [Unp. VDLA], 1. “Het feit dat wij hier bij elkaar komen, niet om over technische zaken, noch om over liturgische aangelegenheden te spreken, maar enkel en alleen om de zuiver architectonische zijde van de kerkbouw onder ogen te zien, is zonder meer al een aanwijzing van de richting die wij in onze besprekingen in zullen slaan. (...) Waar gaat het vooral om bij het bouwen van een huis?” English translation by C. Voet.

3. van der Laan, H. 1985. Vormenspel der Liturgie. Leiden: Brill, 89.

4. Marc Colpaert is cultural philosopher and cofounder of the course Intercultural Management (CIMIC) at the Thomas More Institute in Mechelen, Belgium. He wrote, for example, Where two Seas Meet. Tielt: Lannoocampus, 2009.

5. From a conversation with Frans Goetghebeur, Roosenberg Abbey, March 21, 2015.

6. For example in the last three years, Roosenberg Abbey in Waasmunster (1974) has been visited by several national and international universities, including ETH Zurich, University of Venice, Dep. Of Architecture, University of Valladolid, Dep. Of Architecture, Università della Svizzera italiana, Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Facultät für Architectur und Landschaft Institut für Entwerfen und Gebäudelhere.

7. Van der Laan, H. 1977, 1983(2, revised), 1992(3, revised), 1997(4) De architectonische ruimte. Vijftien lessen over de dispositie van het menselijk verblijf. Leiden: Brill. Translated into English, French, German and Italian. (VDL, AS).

8.    Tzonis, Alexander and Levaifre, Liliane. 1986. Classical Architecture, The Poetics of Order. Cambridge / London: MIT Press, 2.

9.    van der Laan, H. Algemene lesdag 22 April 1972, algemene beschouwingen over het huis [Unp. VDLA], 1.

10.   van der Laan, H. 1941. Resumé. [unp. VDLA], 1–2: “Wij worden door de natuur overweldigd en zoeken kunstmatige uitgangspunten om dit contrast op te heffen, om weer vat te krijgen op de ruimte, om die ruimte opnieuw te begrijpen en te beheersen. De architectuur wordt daardoor zowel een noodzakelijk hulpmiddel voor ons verstand als daarenboven een uitdrukking van een herwonnen heerschappij, van een begrepen ruimte.” English translation by C. Voet.

11. As a reference for Thomas Aquinas, the Benedictines in Oosterhout used Saint Thomas d’ Aquin, Somme Theologique, La Pensée Humaine, traduction par Wébert, J. O.P. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1930, and Saint Thomas d’ Aquin, La Vertu, traduction par Bernard, R. O.P. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1953. On the cogitativa, also see Henri-Dominique Gardeil. 2007. Initiation à la filosofie de Saint Thomas D’ Aquin. Paris: Les Editions du Cerf.

12.    Aquinas, Saint Thomas, De Veritate, q2 a3. Van der Laan often used this quote in his architectural teachings.

13. Laan, Dom Hans van der, 13th lesson, 26 October 1946, Course on Church Architecture, Breda, p4, van der Laan Archives, St.-Benedictusberg, Vaals. “Die gelijkenis is natuurlijk geen identiteit; de kunstmatig ontstane ruimte is een ander soort ruimte dan die van de natuur. Als het een gewone gelijkheid was, dan zou er niets gebeurd zijn. Maar de gelijkheid is er een van betrekkingen: enerzijds is er sprake van een indruk, anderzijds van een uitdrukking. De indruk die wij van de ruimte krijgen, is in de eerste plaats van zinnelijke aard, maar door ons verstandelijk licht, dat die waarneming begeleidt, wordt zelfs ons verstand als het ware door die zinnelijke voorstelling ‘geïnformeerd’, waardoor zich in ons verstand een abstract concept vormt. Wij kunnen dit vergelijken met een bevruchting, waarbij het verstand eerst passief is: het laat zich het object worden, om het echter daarna actief door haarzelf te zijn. Met deze inwendige uitdrukking termineert zich het kenproces.”.

14. Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita, De coelesti hierarchia, in: PG III, 115–370; SC 58, Paris, 1958. Remery, p73.

15. Van der Laan,H. 1975. Negen brieven van de architect over de bouw van het klooster Roosenberg. Waasmunster: Roosenberg Abbey and Abbey St.-Benedictusberg, Mamelis, reprint 2008, 24.

16. Van der Laan, H. ASI.11.

17. Van der Laan, H. AS. VI.7.

18. For a detailed analysis on how Dom van der Laan applied his design methodology of the plastic number, see Voet, Caroline. 2012. “The poetics of order. Dom Hans van der Laans’ Architectonic Space”, arq: Architectural Research Quarterly, 16(02): 137–154.

19. Vitruvius, Marcus Pollio, De Architectura libri decem, approx. 15 BC. Alberti, Leon Battista, De re aedificatoria, 1,486. Palladio, Andrea, I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura, 1570.

20. Van der Laan related the bay rhythm to the width of the column, not the intercolumniation. He followed Vitruvius’ terminology and by approximation interpreted the proportions through the plastic number: araeostylos 2 : 9, diastylos 1 : 4, eustylos 2 : 7, systylos 1 : 3 and pycnostylos 2 : 5. VDL, AS XI.10.

21. Van der Laan, H. Lecture in Leiden, January 1943. “Het huis moet het menselijk lichaam omringen, niet zo direct als de kleding, maar toch zo dat er van het lichaam een invloed uitgaat op de vorm van de ruimte. ... Het is dus die ruimtecel, waarin wij ons thuis gevoelen, die ons lichaam heilzaam completeert, die bij iedere kleinere maat nauw aansloot en bij iedere grotere maat royaal wordt. Het is als de aureool van ons wezen. Praktisch komt die cel neer op een ruimte waarbij ons gezicht het centrum inneemt. Dus een ruimte waarvan de maten in 3 richtingen tweemaal de lengte van het lichaam hebben.” Translation C. Voet.

22. Van der Laan, H. 1975. Negen brieven van de architect over de bouw van het klooster Roosenberg. Waasmunster: Roosenberg Abbey and Abbey St.-Benedictusberg, Mamelis, reprint 2008, 25.

23. Schmidt, Peter. 2005. Het Lam Gods. Leuven: Davidsfonds, 114.

24. Griffin, John. 2011. On the Origin of Beauty: Ecophilosophy in the Light of Traditional Wisdom. World Wisdom, Inc., 235, note 83.

25. Van der Laan, H. 1975. Negen brieven van de architect over de bouw van het klooster Roosenberg. Waasmunster: Roosenberg Abbey and Abbey St.-Benedictusberg, Mamelis, reprint 2008, 24.

26. Van der Laan, H. 1975. Negen brieven van de architect over de bouw van het klooster Roosenberg. Waasmunster: Roosenberg Abbey and Abbey St.-Benedictusberg, Mamelis, reprint 2008, 17.

27. Van der Laan, H. 1975. , Negen brieven van de architect over de bouw van het klooster Roosenberg. Waasmunster: Roosenberg Abbey and Abbey St.-Benedictusberg, Mamelis, reprint 2008, 16.

28. This is the distance measured from the elbow to the middle finger, and equals approximately 2 feet or 660 mm.

29. (Dom Hans van der Laan. Veertiende les over het plastische getal of de architectonische ordonnantie: expressiviteit, Kruithuis, 7 en 21 mei 1955).

30. Van der Laan had read the book in 1966. He explains this in a letter to Richard Padovan, 26 October 1983 [VDLA]. He wrote to Padovan that he had received the book in 1966 from Granpré Molière.

31. Voet, Caroline, Schoonjans, Yves. 2009. “Architectonic Space as a contemporary interpretation of connaissance poetique within sacred architecture” (conference proceedings for the International Congress of Contemporary Religious Architecture, Between the concept and identity, Communications II, Ourense, Spain, 12–14 November, 2009), see: www.arquitecturareligiosa.es.

32. Stegers, Rudolf. 2008. Sacred Buildings, a Design Manual. Basel: Birkhäuser, 33: “(...) their explorations of space, emancipated from functional requisites, produce forms that operate using religious phenomena (...) Extreme materiality in solid, heavy, opaque tectonic objects on the one hand, or extreme immateriality as loose, light, lucid, spheroid objects on the other: both with the intend of emphatic immersion rather than distanced reception, for engaging with rather than comprehending.” He refers to spatial artists whose work is attributed to Minimal Art, Arte Povera on Land Art, but also to the quasi-sacral museums by, for example, Peter Märkli (La Congiunta Museum and Foundation in Giornico, Switzerland, 1992) or Tadao Ando (Langen Foundation Museum near to Insel Hombroich, Germany, 2004). I also refer to the more recent museums of Sanaa (New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, 2007) or Peter Zumthor (Archdiocese Museum, Cologne, Germany, 2007).

33. Herz Jesu Kirche (Allmann, Sattler, Wappner, Munich, 2000), Chapel on Mount Rokko / Church on the Water / Chapel of the Light (Tadao Ando, Kobe, Japan, 1986 / Tomamu, Japan, 1988 / Ibaraki, Japan, 1989). In 2007, the architect Peter Zumthor built the Veldkapel Bruder Klaus in Mechernich, Germany as a closed parallelogram of rough concrete, wearing the black traces of the burnt formwork. One opening at the top diffuses light from above.

34. Zumthor, Peter. Does Beauty have a form. Revised version of the lecture Venustas, given at the Department of Architecture of the Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, November 1998, published in: Thinking Architecture. Lars Müller Publishers, Baden Switzerland, expanded reprint by Birkhäuser, Basel, Switserland, 2006, 78.

35. Pallasmaa, Juhani. 2005. The Eyes of the Skin. Chichester, UK: Wiley Academy, 15.

36. Pallasmaa, Juhani. 2007. “An Archipelago of Authenticity: The Task of Architecture in Consumer Culture.” In Caicci, Gregory (ed.) Architecture, Ethics, the Personhood of Place. Lebanon: University Press of New England, 41–49.

37. Van der Laan here partially joined the ongoing Christian existentialism of Gabriel Marcel (1889–1973) or the writings of Albert Dondeyne (1901–1985). See for example: Dondeyne, Albert. 1961. Geloof en Wereld. Uitgeverij Patmos, Antwerpen, and Gabriel, Marcel. 1951. Le Mystère de l'être. Paris, Aubier, 2 vol.

38. Bekert, Geert. 1987. “Een beginsel van altijd en overall”. In Landschap van kerken, 10 eeuwen bouwen in Vlaanderen. Davidsfonds, Leuven en Standaard Uitgeverij, Antwerpen, 278–285.

39. Pages by Raimon Pannikar. April 2013. Cirpit Review. Milano-Udine, p16. Text transcribed from the video-interview Raimon Pannikar, The New Innocence, 1997.

40. Pannikar, Raimon. 1982. Blessed simplicity, the monk as universal archetype. New York. Pannikar addresses the monastic vocation as it is today, elaborating “Nine sutras on the Canon of the disciple” that embark from the basic principle of simplicity: “Opening up to the primordial aspiration; The primacy of being over doing and having; Silence; Mother Earth; Overcoming spacio-temporal parameters; Trans-historic consciousness; Fullness of the person; Primacy of the sacred; Memory of the absolute.”

41. Panikkar starts out from his personal experience as “a monk without a monastery” and without the robes to arrive at “the monk that is in each of us”, the one who “aspires with his whole being to reach life’s ultimate end”, or simply, to Be. Retrieved from: http://www.raimon-panikkar.org/, 25–03-2015.

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