Multidisciplinary practice Studio Corkinho has completed Still Room, a monastic space inside a 19th-century Antwerp building where individuals can escape for peaceful contemplation.
Still Room, which has been sparsely finished with a bed and a writing desk, emerged out of Studio Corkinho's fascination with silence and how it can be exercised to give architectural spaces a greater sense of meaning.
"Our philosophy for Still Room is to design spaces that connect people to a higher purpose, especially in an era when time, distance and our attention spans are increasingly compressed, the room's atmosphere brings us back to our human condition," explained the studio, which is led by Cédric Etienne and Klas Dalquist.
Still Room contains a couple of volumes washed with plaster The room is set inside the 11-metre-high tower of Noorderpershuis, a former power station near the port of Antwerp which was originally erected back in 1878.
As Noorderpershuis is protected, the studio had to construct the ultra-tranquil environment without making any major alterations to the building's brick structural shell.
Inside one of the volumes is a bed
Etienne found himself reflecting on his past travels to Japan, where he'd often visit to practice silent meditation in Buddhist monasteries. During his trips he'd go to traditional teahouses and inns, otherwise known as ryokans, to "study the emptiness in Japanese traditional architecture".
He also drew reference from the minimali...