St. George and St. Paul the Anchorite Monastery is a new Coptic Christian monastery and church that will have three distinct elements: a monks’ block, guest block, and church block.

The monks’ block will include individual cells, dining area, sitting spaces, and offices. The guest block will provide overnight accommodation for short-term stays for men and women and will include large dining area, multi-purpose spaces, family rooms, dorms, kitchen, and accommodation for resident caretaker and family, as well as dedicated rooms for Coptic traditions.

The church block includes a church to accommodate 500 people, entry lobby, baptism room, kids’ room, offices, and bookstore.

The design was carefully tailored to the traditions of the Coptic faith in the layouts, orientation, and spaces required in the church. The site is sloped and exposed, and we worked with the site sloping to minimize massing and maximize views, without creating distractions during church services. The project also involved significant re-zoning work with the County of Red Deer.