Reclaiming Cœnobism is a project for a contemporary Cistercian Monastery. It exposes the controversial history of the Cistercian Order, which success in the Middle Ages heavily relied upon an economic and territorial system – the granges – which extended well beyond the walls of the monasteries. This system progressively corrupted the original ideal of autarchy, and the Order soon began to play an essential role in the Secular economic and political scenarios. For, the Cistercian Order becomes paradigmatic of a still unsolved struggle for the Chuch, which is finding a balance between the aim of a spiritual life – economy of the soul – and the need of sustenance – economy. The project uses the Cistercians and their original precepts as its fundamental ingredients. It proposes an alternative scheme for a self-built and autarchic settlement, trying to achieve this goal with a minimal impact on the surrounding environment, claiming that self-sustenance can be achieved locally, without spreading across and appropriating vast plots of land. Reclaiming Cœnobism uses the ad quadratum protocol as a design tool by abstracting and pushing it to an extreme, yet in a way where the proposal blends with the surrounding environment, achieving a total synergy between manmade intervention and nature.