On September 20, we held a press conference here at Oka to make public the winner of the architectural context that was organized in Quebec in order to choose an architect for the project of our new monastery. You will find the translation of our Abbot’s presentation. 

Presentation of the winner

 Today our community lives an important and decisive step in the process of a transfer that will lead us from Oka to Saint-Jean-de-Matha. We are finishing the process for choosing an architect. This experience has been enriching but also painful in some ways. It has not been easy to choose four projects out of 60 and ten to limit ourselves to only one project. We know by experience that any choice implies a renunciation. We have seen the talent and the creativity of the architects from Quebec and we would like to thank all those who have participated in this contest. 

Today, we are happy and proud to welcome Mr. Pierre Thibault, architect in chief, of Quebec city, and Vadim Siegel, his main collaborator, as the winner of this contest and the one chosen to draw up the plans and build our new monastery at Saint-Jean-de-Matha. Mr. Thibault’s contribution offers a promising project which can be integrated in the wonderful setting that we have chosen, as if it was almost part of the environment. This is what I expressed to the architects on May 28 when many of the contestants came to visit our chosen site.

We wished a monastery that would distinguish itself by its luminosity, its simplicity and its beauty. It seemed to us that M. Pierre Thibault’s project integrated these qualities and added a touch of Benedictine humility. Our community approved this choice unanimously on September 21.

During the whole process of the context, we were accompanied by Mr. Philippe Drolet, architect, as a professional counsellor as well as by the members of his staff, Kathie, Erica and Nathalie. They have put their competencies and their knowledge at our service with an opened and fraternal mind. We are grateful for their services and we wish to continue collaborating with them in the future. 

  The project of a new monastery at Saint-Jean-de-Matha was conceived ad will be realized for our community of 30 monks and those who will come to join us in the future … We are also aware that we are working for our local Church and for the society at large … This project of transfer is an act of faith and conscious audacity. Our community is committed to this because it wishes to rake into consideration the thousands of persons who visit our Abbey each year; they come to stay in our guesthouse, they come to the Eucharist on Sundays or on weekdays, they stop for a moment of prayer with us during the daily offices. 

My brothers and myself are committed to this wonderful project in a spirit of trust. We hope, with the grace of God, that we will be able to move in the new monastery during the Summer of 2007. We will then have the joy of greeting all of you as we do now at Oka.

Yvon-Joseph Moreau, abbot, September 28, 2004.

(Translated from the French language by Br. John Doutre o.c.s.o.)

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ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITION FOR OUR NEW MONASTERY:
PIERRE THIBAULT CHOSEN WINNER

On September 21, 2004, the winner was chosen by jury from among four finalists; the news was announced Tuesday, September 28, 2004.

Pierre Thibault’s design for the new Cistercian Abbey at St. Jean de Matha expresses the interior harmony and simplicity sought by Cistercian monks in their daily life, at the heart of which prayer, contemplation, recollection and hospitality hold a privileged place. The spatial organisation of the new abbey takes into account the dual aspects of interiority and exteriority.

In its implantation on the site, the pure volumetrics of the abbey respond to those of the surrounding landscape in a gesture which favours the interaction of the natural and built-up elements. In this way, the entire project, impregnated with multiple sensations, brings the subtle evolution of the landscape into dialogue with daily life.

The new Cistercian abbey at St. Jean de Matha carries a clear message of interior harmony expressed from spiritual, volumetric and material points of view, and stands out by its concern for economy of means, simplicity, and respect for and contemplation of the environment.

Translated from the French language by Br. William Dingwall

THE ACCEPTED PROJECT