Contemporary Spanish Churches

CONTEMPORARY CHURCHES IN SPAIN
A. SANTA MÓNICA CHURCH, RIVAS-VACIAMADRID, MADRID (1995). Architects: Vicens & Ramos / Ignacio Vicens y Hualde, José Antonio Ramos Abengózar

The main idea was to locate, in the middle of the surrounding urban chaos, a building that would serve as a milestone and a continuous testament of the spiritual function that takes place inside, expressing the social andurban environment surrounding the church. The intention of unifying was essential in the project’s design, hence its elongated and narrow form, slightly curved to match the street’s alignment. The sculptural projections towards the north end seem to "trap" the light and remind of hands or fingers pointing towards the sky, "a frozen explosion a moment after the blast" as described by I. Vicens. Thecomplex consists of two independent buildings; the first one shelters the church’s offices, ie the daily worship chapel formed by a large steel-framed structure, the second in a reinforced concrete structure, houses the parish home. Both of them are connected by a continuous skin of weathering steel, giving the building an image of unity and firmness. The north and south facades are symmetrical,except for the parish spaces, due to the fact that the north steel skin bents to form the main access to the shed. The following models show the first approaches and the project’s evolution:

PARROQUIA DE LOS SANTOS APÓSTOLES ADDRESS: C/ VALLE DEL RONCAL, S/N, URBANIZACIÓN LAS LOMAS (BOADILLA DEL MONTE) MADRID PROJECT AND CONSTRUCTION: 1970 INGINEER: ADRIÁN ESTEBAN

This church stands out forits elegance and great modernity. Its light structure of steel and its windows inserted in it configure a space full of spirituality, of happiness, a space full of colour. What stands out most is the location of its altar, very advanced for its time. It is situated it in the centre of the church, being able to give mass with a 360º vision. People surround the priest, in complete communion withhim. The church can be described as a garden-church, with different feelings and spaces: church, chapel, meeting areas, sacristy, are interconnected by interior gardens. The structure of concrete and steel provides great sincerity to the building. It is situated in a high standard housing area, without a clear configuration where the church means an urban landmark. Z3. Iglesia de Nuestra Señora delRosario de Filipinas (1970) Address: Calle del Conde de Peñalver, 40 Architect: Tarín Cecilio Sánchez-Robles It was built between 1967 and 1970 by architect Tarín Cecilio Sánchez-Robles and amended by Manuel Mateo Sanz. The exterior, pure concrete, makes it unnoticeable for many passersby, used to the brick church with domes or capitals. It’s different functions manifest to the exterior, even whena single plastic formality dominates, this is concrete and aluminium. The influence from Le Corbusier is obvious, through it´s monumentality and formal freedom. The church is the complex’s main building with an overhead light that illuminates the presbytery, achieving a beautiful effect, and a rectangular sloping nave covered with a parabolic vault. Looking at the façade we can

see the belltower with its carved cross, opposed to the horizontal bands that set the convent terraces. Z4. Basílica Hispanoamericana Nuestra Señora de la Merced (1965) Address: Calle General Moscardó, 23 Architects: Sáenz de Oiza and Laorga Oíza and Laorga obviate any historic settlement in return for inspiration in HispanicAmerican architecture, but with a modern language. Thus, the main facade, as acontemporary altarpiece, assumes ornamental full charge of all ornamental flat panels flat against the rest of the elevations. Inside, the ornamentation is reduced to the simple coffered vaults, the altar and dome. The plant is the conventional Latin cross, with two towers, a nave with side chapels, upper gallery and transept with a dome on a drum that leads to the high altar at the head. The crypt was...