A CARMELITE CONVENT

2005
Location: Tres Pueblos Sinkhole, Puerto Rico
Program: Religious Institution, Ecological Tourism.



 

A convent is a sanctuary, it is a refuge for those seeking a way to God in a path that can sometimes be unstable and uncertain. This spiritual trajectory through an unsteady surface can be equivalent to our site inside a Karst region sinkhole in the rainforest of Puerto Rico, where the ground is not WHERE, WHAT and WHEN it appears to be.  

The Groundless is a Carmelite Order convent and geological hiking trail located inside the Tres Pueblos sinkhole. Its name is both a reference to the founder of the Carmelites, Saint Teresa of Avila’s ruptured levitations, and more specifically, it describes the situation in the site, a karts region volatile terrain in which the physical character if the ground is nebulous and unsteady. Groundless refers to the presence of multiple grounds lacking a unifying character, rather than the absence of one.

The convents organization is arranged from the top to the bottom of the sinkhole in order of importance, access, and spiritual relevance. At the top are visiting facilities and work areas while at the bottom, as the sinkhole becomes more lush, tropical and exuberant, are located the dormitory cells and chapel. The introduced hiking trail meanders and descends through the convent buildings in the form geological stations. In this secular pilgrimage route, the stratification of sediment and flora of the site, a miracle of its own, is highlighted. 

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