Cloister of Belonging
Architecture: BArch
Eman Shaikh
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Atelier 02: Urban Monastery
Project
The modern monastery in Newark-on-Trent is a personal exploration of belonging — a space shaped by memory, community, and nature. Inspired by the resilience of the Traveller community and Newark’s layered history, it invites reflection through quiet “memory rooms,” communal gathering spaces, and meditative gardens. Built from reclaimed materials, it honors the past while creating room for connection in the present. This isn’t just a building — it’s a place to feel seen, to share stories, and to find a sense of home.
Here you see one of my main visuals, this is an interior visual of the memory space, where people can display memorial pieces they either find important or made in the workshop, we have traditional folk traveler art in the back to help remember what all of this is inspired by
Project
Here we have a Ariel view of the site and the monastery, this helps you understand not only the entire site but also the monastery as a whole, you can see how I decided to close off the castle space in order for it to be more of a contemporary add on more than a separate building itself, you can see by the castle’s original gatehouse the accommodation space where people who work at the monastery would live, it uses the same materials so it blends in but hidden in order to give privacy and a private access to the people who reside in it
