Aau Anastas

The Flat Vault

The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow

THE FLAT VAULT

Aau Anastas

ARCHITECTS
Aau Anastas

MANUFACTURERS
AGC, Reggiani

RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING
Laboratoire GSA, ENSA Paris Malaquais & SCALES

PHOTOGRAPHS
Mikaela Burstow

AREA
50.0 m2

BUDGET
85000 euros

YEAR
2018

LOCATION
Jerusalem, Palestine

CATEGORY
Store

The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow
The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow
The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow

Text description provided by architect.

The St Mary of the Resurrection Abbey is one of Jerusalem’s most valuable witness of crusaders’ architecture. 

The site is one of the ve French domains in Jerusalem including the Tombs of the Kings, the Pater Noster, Sainte Anne, and the French General consulate. The church was built in the 12th century by the Crusaders.

The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow
The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow

Its architecture offers a complete example of what was the architecture of the Crusaders in Palestine; a combination of different architectural elements that they brought from abroad and local elements that they found in situ.

The newly built at stone vault is an extension of the monastery’s shop. Architecturally, it consists of a juxtaposed volume addition.

However, the strategy of integration in the site does not rely on the formal aspect of the architectural element but rather on the construction techniques: the new shop is thought as a stone structure.

The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow
The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow

Just like most of the architecture of the monastery – including the church’s crypt – the soundness of the structure relies on a delicate work of stereotomy. 

The columns of the new shop are made out of massive stone, and the ceiling is a at stone vault composed of 169 interlocking voussoirs.

The system is inspired by the invention of French engineer Joseph Abeille (1673-1756), who patented in 1699 a special system that allowed the building of at vaults.

The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow
The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow

The design for the new shop is based on an innovative construction principle, literally weaving stones together to achieve the first reinforced at stone vault of such a scale.

The techniques used for the construction rely on novel design and simulation techniques of the structure’s structural behavior, as well as on fabrication and mounting methods allowing for the assembly of precise topological interlocking.

The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow
The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow

The extension of the monastery’s shop – in such a heavy historical context - is above all an attempt to adapt existing construction principles to novel design and fabrication methods as well as a specific local stonemasonry know-how.

The at stone vault echoes stone construction techniques, inherent to the monastery’s architectural history and to the crusader’s architecture in Palestine, in a contemporary way.

The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow


The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow
The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow
The Flat Vault
© Mikaela Burstow


The Flat Vault
Interior View
The Flat Vault
Facade Perspective


The Flat Vault
Diagram
The Flat Vault
Structure Diagram
The Flat Vault
Columns Diagram


The Flat Vault
Stone Axonometric
The Flat Vault
Axonometric
The Flat Vault
Pattern


The Flat Vault
Assembly Princple
The Flat Vault
Plan
The Flat Vault
Stone Plan

Aau Anastas
T +33 6 81082082
Aau Anastas
4 Rue Robert de Flers, 75015 Paris, France