Tautra Mariakloster by Jensen & Skodvin Architects in Norway

Laden with awards (International Architecture in Stone Award 2007, Building Of The Year in Norway, Forum Aid Award), the Tautra Maria convent in the little island of Tautra, in western Norway. The architects, Jensen and Skodvin are no strangers to designing holy places – their Lutheran church in Mortensrud (2002) is an impressive building.

The monastery was founded by nuns from the US Cistercian nuns of the Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey, near Dubuque, Iowa. The site hosts the ruins of a 13th century abbey. Work for the new monastery started in 2005 and was finished and consecrated last year.

The project was not without strife. The nuns made some changes to the original plans, to have the complex more in line with their beliefs. The original covered area was reduced by 30%. Walkways were eliminated for the sake of miniature gardens (seven of them). No wood veneer could be used on the inside walls because it would distract the nuns from their prayers.

The fascinating outer surfaces of the buildings are made with an unusual use of stone: a collage of thin stripes of differently colored stones, used like this to blend harmoniously with the Norwegian landscape. The slabs are fastened to the structure with metal clamps. The inner facades-the ones facing the gardens, are clad with vertical wooden boards.

The intricate wooden beams of the roof structures remind us of the cross, a fitting symbolism. The lightness and elegance of the wooden beams contrasts with the austerity and roughness of the stone exterior. The sun is filtered through the net-like construction, which also provides good acoustics.

An exception was made to the cistercian rule of closed spaces with no immediate contact with the outside world: the altar has a glass wall behind it.

The plan is based on a strict geometry – all right angles. The nunnery accommodates 18 nuns.  Spirituality, simplicity and in touch with God and the world- I think this monastery encompasses the main values of life in ecclesiastical seclusion.