Calvin Leung

The Riverine Monastery Deconstructed

The Riverine Monastery begins with the analogue model of river research, proposing an experimental riverbed, which forms the Undercroft, next to an existing branch of the river. The Undercroft is protected by the Deck, which provides shading, collects dew, and allows visitors to navigate the site. The Deck is then penetrated by three Gates, which are points of entry into the metaphorical Monastic Garden of Water, and are programmed as the Sampling Stations, the Hatchery, and the Projection Chamber respectively. As an anchor to the whole research facility, the Wall provides all ancillary functions including laboratories and riverbed modification tools, just as the city wall supports the city of Ávila‎.

The Undercroft

There was a time when hydraulic behaviour in rivers were studied in an analogue manner through large-scale models, such as the American Mississippi River Basin Model and the Dutch Waterloopbos. These physical models were tools to study the effects of artificial interventions in the river, mostly built in concrete, and they became obsolete when digital simulation and computation matured. Nevertheless, there was a similar experiment in Geneva on the River Aïre in a project by Superpositions. In an attempt to re-nature the concrete canals from the 20th century, Superpositions created a new river in parallel, with lozenge-shaped grids dug on the riverbed. The river then took its natural course through this grid and formed a natural meandering path.

While digital computation has been effective against traditional hydraulic engineering using concrete and straight edges, is it as effective predicting the behaviour of a natural river? When the trend in river management involves nature again, it is perhaps time to revive the analogue mode of river study to better understand how nature would work upon the catalysts and primers we engineer, just as the river made its own course along the lozenges.

The Wall

In Avila, it is common for buildings at the fringe of the city to attach to the city wall. The Palace of Sofraga climbs onto the city wall with a wooden canopy. Or perhaps the city wall attaches to buildings in the city, as in the case of the Cathedral of the Saviour, which breaks the city wall into two. The Wall of Avila is thick. Its structure is thick, and the watch towers are thicker.

When the Wall is seeded into the Adaja site, this thickness is retained and exaggerated. The Wall becomes the service core of the Riverine Monastery, containing most of its more practical programmes, housing 4 laboratories on the upper floor, storage for landscape modification tools on the lower floor, an annex of lecture theatre, and all supporting services.

The Projection Chamber

Despite the agricultural inclination of the Province of Avila, as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, the City of Avila is a major tourist spot. The focus of tourists is naturally the cultural background of the city, with its famous city wall, the saint St. Teresa of Avila, and a series of intra- and extra-mural churches and monasteries. The Riverine Monastery, apart from being a research facility, tries also to bring tourists’ attention to the city’s relationship with the River Adaja. Since the Hermitage of St. Secundus is among the extramural churches on the World Heritage list, the visitors’ access to the Riverine Monastery begins also at the Hermitage. 

A flight of stairs take the pilgrim from the Hermitage of San Segundo up to the Vista Chamber, where he could take a closer look at the belfry. Then, they will be directed towards the Projection Chamber, where they could see audiovisual projections explaining the Riverine Monastery, as well as reflection of the River Adaja from below through the reflective surface of the interior of its roof/facade. Through the Projection Chamber, they could access the

Deck, where they could see the Undercroft through the grating, and walk to the other Gates.

The Hatchery

The upper stream of the River Adaja is a potential Key Biodiversity Area at the Douro river basin, where the two trigger species, cobitis paludica and achondrostoma arcasii, could be found in large numbers. The former mill El Molino de la Losa is therefore adapted to become the hatchery for the research of fish, restoring the mill’s relationship with water. The upper floors will contain the hatching chambers and rearing ponds, while the flood-prone lower level becomes a ramp for the delivery of fish from water level since a electric lift would risk being flooded.

The dam next to the mill is set back to allow fish catching and releasing, through the grated platforms at the bottom of the ramps. High above these platforms, there is a viewing platform at the deck level for visitors to look into the hatchery through its glazed roof. The viewing platform’s canopy extends above the glazed roof to provide shading.

The Sampling Stations

Ancillary to the Undercroft, two sampling stations were designed for the researchers to reach the experimental river from the upper level walkways. Deriving from origami models, each sampling station is a combination of two of the same origami fold at different orientations, one torn apart for the access staircase, and another as the vessel that receives the stairs. These strange forms contrast with the relatively regular deck above to provide emphasis to the research venue.

The Deck

Rivers are generally outdoors in open air. The Undercroft, as an experimental ground and wildlife research venue, requires something slightly different. It requires the same degree of protection trees offer to a river. It is, however, unrealistic to plant trees on this artificial riverbed. Sitting on top of four sets of fins/girders, the Deck serves a similar function by filtering light, allowing rainwater to fall through while protecting fish and aquatic life from predators such as birds. It is almost an artificial riparian buffer. Similar to an archaeological site, this experimental ground should not be touched by structure that disturbs the experiment. Hence there are the four giant fins/girders that hold up the deck.

As drought becomes more frequent, the River Adaja becomes increasingly seasonal, and the aquifer level drops, additional sources of water are useful to Avila, and dew collectors are designed for this purpose. The origami-shaped dew condenser proposed by Beysens et al. has been modified into a triangular shape to fit the structural module. Considering the extent of the deck, the material at the centre of the dew condenser is switched to glass to provide daylight to the Undercroft.