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Sited in the Canterbury Precinct of 1350, the hotel is built along the existing 6 meter-high flint Priory wall that divided the Cathedral’s administration from the houses and shops. The hotel acts as a “thickening” of the Priory wall, where guests find themselves between the religious and the secular. Guests arrive at the east end of the precinct, and circulate through an open-air corridor with the Priory wall running along one side, and the hotel along the other. The hotel prepares the guests for atonement through a series of multi-temperature cleansing baths and denies any view of the Cathedral until exiting the hotel at the west end of the corridor.  The only existing break in the Priory wall is to allow the Sacrist to cross from his home to the cathedral grounds, and is reflected in the sunken outdoor theatre of the hotel below.

Parti Sketch

Site plan

Plan

Sections

Procession of point of views, starting with night-time arrival

Waking up in the room

The corridor in the morning

The contemplation corner

The frigidarium lap pool

View of the tepidarium pool from the corridor

Sacrist’s theatre