Mexican firm Fernando Romero Enterprise has won a competition to design a
chapel in Miami with plans modeled on the pleated fabric gown of
religious figure the Lady of Guadalupe. As a Roman Catholic icon of the
Virgin Mary, the Lady of Guadalupe is a popular image in Mexican culture
and the architects explain how they were invited to design a Catholic
Church devoted to her image. The proposals show a billowing
concrete structure with an undulating skirt of 27
clearly defined pleats.
Inside the building, small sanctuaries will be
framed within these pleats, each containing an effigy of one of the other 27
Latin American virgins. ”We preferred to open the proposal to other Latin
American cultures as well, having represented all the 27 Latin American virA
twisted tower will provide a spire over the chapel’s altar and will
feature a stained-glass skylight decorated with an image of the Lady of
Guadalupe.gins,” said the architects. The architects intend this image to
project down onto visitors sat in the sunken assembly hall, to
“stress the connection with the sky” and “represent the contrast between earth
and heaven”. Additional rooms will be located beneath the seating areas and
will include a sacristy, offices and a small library. FREE is best-known
for the design of the anvil-shaped Museo Soumaya in Mexico, which opened last
year.
Miami Chapel, Florida, USA
Designing a congregation space for
the Miami Catholic community requires an understanding of the identity of a
multicultural group and the ability to translate it into a representative
building.
We were asked to design a Catholic Church
devoted to the Mexican Virgin Our Lady of Guadalupe. FREE chose to incorporate
other Latin American cultures as well, by representing all 27 Latin American
Virgins.
The 27 Virgins are accommodated around Our
Lady of Guadalupe’s figure, creating 27 small sanctuaries.
In a single gesture, the extrusion of this
floor plan results in an organic, corrugated form; resembling the pleats of Our
Lady of Guadalupe’s cloth. The vertical shape stands out of its context, and
the volume is rotated towards the corner for more visibility.
A roof light at the top filters natural light
into the congregation space, projecting the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in
the presbytery.
The main entrance distributes to the main
congregation space, ambulatory, confessionals and community service area in the
level below. At the rear, a reserved area contains the sacristy,
preparation and changing rooms, offices, small library and working spaces for
the priest and personnel.
The iconic shape performs an acoustic filter
and dramatizes the ecumenical atmosphere of the church, outlining its identity
in the metropolitan area of Miami.
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