Cathedral for One
AAU Anastas
Patio del COAR
2026
Cathedral for One is a stone architecture conceived for a single visitor. Suspended above the ground, it invites the body to momentarily withdraw from its surroundings and enter an interior carved within a mass of stone. Through an opening beneath the structure, visitors slide inside a smooth and enveloping cavity illuminated only by a single zenithal aperture, offering a space for solitude, contemplation and temporary detachment from the rhythms of the city.
The project is made entirely from discarded stone slabs collected from a stone factory. Rather than treating these remnants as waste, they become the substance of a new architecture: layer by layer, the slabs construct a continuous interior void, transforming industrial leftovers into a place of presence and reflection.
The project is also an attempt to reposition stone within the public sphere. Today, stone often appears either as an expensive surface material or as a technical solution; we are interested in something else: its capacity to carry cultural meaning. Throughout history, stone has shaped both ordinary domestic spaces and places of gathering, celebration and ritual. Cathedral for One embraces this dual condition: it is at once intimate and public, domestic and monumental, introspective and celebratory.
This position emerges from our experience of practicing architecture in Palestine, where building has never been a neutral act. The construction of a house, a wall, a terrace or a public space is inseparable from questions of presence, continuity and belonging. Building becomes a cultural act, and inevitably a political one. Through this project, we seek to extend that reflection beyond its immediate context and ask how architecture can continue to produce meaning through the simple act of assembling matter into space.
A sound composition inhabits the interior cavity. During the festival, two daily celebrations take place within the work —a morning service and an evening service—, each following its own sonic programme, broadcast repeatedly before giving way to the next cycle. These services celebrate the cultural and spiritual dimension of construction itself: the human desire to gather matter, shape space and transform the act of building into an act of meaning. Built from fragments yet aspiring to the spatial intensity of a sanctuary, Cathedral for One proposes a place where stone, sound, body and imagination meet in a shared celebration of architecture.
AAU Anastas
AAU Anastas are architects from Bethlehem whose practice advocates a contemporary use of structural stone in Palestine and other contexts, understood as a path toward low-carbon architectures, more resilient cities and responsible forms of extraction and construction. Their work combines design, research and cultural production, with pieces shown at the Venice Architecture Biennale and held in collections such as those of the Vitra Design Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Alongside public facilities and heritage restorations, they have launched initiatives such as Local Industries, the community radio station Radio alHara and Wonder Cabinet, recognised with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
With the support of
