Mexican firm Fernando Romero EnterprisE (FREE) has won a competition to design a chapel in Miami with plans modelled 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.
Above: the Lady of Guadalupe and all 27 Latin American virgins - click above for larger image
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 virgins," said the architects.
Above: concept - click above for larger image and key
A 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.
Above: plan concept - click above for larger image and key
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".
Above: exploded axonometric diagram - click above for larger image
Additional rooms will be located beneath the seating areas and will include a sacristy, offices and a small library.
Above: sky connection concept - click above for larger image and key
FREE is best-known for the design of the anvil-shaped Museo Soumaya in Mexico, which opened last year.
Above: stack ventilation scheme - click above for larger image and key
See more places of worship on Dezeen, including a cross-shaped chapel in Brazil and a stark concrete church in China.
Above: roof light section - click above for larger image and key
Here's some more information from FREE:
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.
Above: traditional plan comparison - click above for larger image and key
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.
Above: masterplan - click above for larger image
The 27 Virgins are accommodated around Our Lady of Guadalupe’s figure, creating 27 small sanctuaries.
Above: long section - click above for larger image
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.
Above: short section - click above for larger image
The vertical shape stands out of its context, and the volume is rotated towards the corner for more visibility.
Above: car circulation diagram - click above for larger image
A roof light at the top filters natural light into the congregation space, projecting the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the presbytery.
Above: pedestrian and bicycle circulation diagram - click above for larger image
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.
Above: structural analysis - click above for larger image
The iconic shape performs an acoustic filter and dramatizes the ecumenical atmosphere of the church, outlining its identity in the metropolitan area of Miami.
Above: facade texture - click above for larger image
Competition 1st. prize
Program: Cultural
Size: 3,500 m2
Date: 2012-2013
Collaborators: None
Status: Ongoing
Looks more like one of those ballet flowers in the Tchaikovsky section of Disney’s Fantasia.
I can make a case that every skyscraper looks like a giant penis as well. Your point being?
In an area filled with strip malls, parking lots and six-lane roads, this will surely be the most prominent eyesore of them all. Thanks FREE!
Woaaaaaaaahhhhhhh… This is too cool not to build! I know that lazy critique will upset some people, but come onnnnn!
Kitsch. Immodest. Vacuous.
Dear Jesus, why do architects feel compelled to post-rationalize their fetishised forms?
Let’s go to mass in the Virgin Mary’s under-garments!
What a mass. I mean, a mess.
Well, since it looks and works like a solar chimney power plant, the climate inside won’t be comfortable. Anyway, nice shapes, nice diagrams and nice approach. Sad that it won’t look like it in the end.
It looks like the same shape concept as the Miss Jolie Vase by Joel Escalona http://joelescalona.com/work/#/miss-jolie/ also from Mexico.
Nice graphics, weak architecture.
Speechless.
Will his father-in-law be fronting the money for this project as well?
His father in law has nothing to do with it. And if he did, would it matter? It´s not about who the client is. What matters is the result.
It’s certainly not inspired by natural light.
Macaroni anyone? :)
http://www.jedel.bi/files/thumb/peresniki.jpg/500
The Fernando Romero does it again! Pritzker anyone?
Don’t build that ugly useless thing. Just feed the poor already!
Florida is probably the wrong location for this.
Me-thinks it is better suited to being called the Marilyn Chapel and being sited in New York. But the wind should be allowed to get underneath it too, so that it can animate! That may be only way to ensure that people think it to be uplifting.
It probably should also come with a warning notice: ‘May not be suitable for Catholics’.
It’s very beautiful. It’s really art.
Wow, so uninteresting and the metaphor is uninspiring and obviously searching for a formalism.
The form of the tower baffles me, any 1st year student could make the same thing, and dont start saying that there’s something ingenious about it.
Air goes in bottom, out top (duh). Light goes in too (no doi).
These offices that try to come up with clever acronyms that spell out some meaningless whimsical catchy name are outrightly stating their agenda, to produce meaningless whimsical catchy architecture. What a waste.
I believe religious architecture in this new century seeks to interpret and look for significance in simple things to create spaces for meditation and inner-thoughts apart of being a social cohesive (at least in Latin communities). Simple in its form yet complex in its structure, this project shows that though there is nothing new under the sun there’s fun, wits and creativity while exploring form, function, social integration and materiality.
This is just WRONG! From all points of view.