Yesterday morning I met with the Parish Priest of the Brompton Oratory. A very kind and insightful man. When I asked him what the difference between a monastery and a prison was, he quite candidly said, not much, the main and extremely important difference is that one is involuntary, whilst a monk is in a monastery entirely of his own volition. I was also reading a book, entitled "Life in a Monastery", it outlined, a rough timetable (Rule), and the basic buildings (program), that would take place in said place. They are:
Church
Cloister
Dormatory
Refectory
Kitchen
Lavaborium
It is also important to have circuits for procession, and realize that the monk is entirely void of any personal posessions, he doesn't even own his cassock, it belongs to the order. Having said that I propose that the basic unit become Dormatory, Cloister and Circulation. Since a Monk has no personal belongings, the assigning of a cell is unnecissary, and any given monk can sleep in any given cell, wherever there is a free bed. Thus the bed will be imbeded into the wall, and can be pulled out to be used and stowed, during the rest of the activites. When the bed is put away, the space will work as a cloister, with the hub that separates the units acting as a carrol.
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