Sisters of Charity Convent
Client: Sisters of Charity St Vincents Hospital
Matt Brindley – Project Director for Rice Daubney Group
The Sisters of Charity is the religious order that administers St Vincent’s hospital in Darlinghurst Sydney. When their original convent was slated for demolition to make way for the new Services building, the Sisters decided to create a new convent off site. This new building was to be the home for only those Sisters involved in the day to day running of the hospital.
A site across Burton St was chosen with frontage to 3 streets. The new 2 storey building has 12 bedrooms, shared bathrooms, main living room, dining room, recreation room and a small chapel.
Matt worked with the Sisters to write the brief and to understand the nature of the life of a nun in the modern world. Matt suggested that the chapel should have the connection to the original convent. Selecting the 6 best of the stained glass windows from the original chapel, re-leading them and reinstalling them into the new chapel, accomplished this.
The chapel altar is naturally lit from behind by a hidden skylight. The circular opening and simplified Celtic cross is used throughout the building as the symbol of Christ.
