Capilla de la Santa Cruz
CAPILLA DE LA SANTA CRUZ
Roberto Silva, Taller de Arquitectura X / Alberto Kalach
ARCHITECTS
Roberto Silva, Taller de Arquitectura X / Alberto Kalach
LOCATION
Jojutla De Juárez, Mexico
CATEGORY
CHAPEL
AREA
141 m²
YEAR
2018
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
GMA Arquitectura e Ingeniería, Ing. Mario Romero
WATER/SANITARY ENGINEERING
Ing. Arq. Humberto Andrade
CONSTRUCTION
DICONTECH
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Ing. Ericka Azpeitia
SUPERVISION
Miguel Ángel Rojas
Text description provided by architect.
After the devastating earthquake in September 2017, all of Jojutla's colonial heritage was severely damaged or lost. We had the opportunity to design and build a small chapel where another one used to stand.
We decided to recreate a reminiscence of the past with modern construction techniques. An anchor for the people of this town, their traditions and heritage.
A place to pause to pass by, and to stay to find a corner for a sacred thought across the road where the light and the silence unites and to feel how a wonder -in its stillness- Is healing.
Description by Mónica Arellano. The building is made up of a rotating dome with four arches with a parabolic or ovoidal profile, rotated with respect to a circular and open axis that allows the passage of overhead light.
This dome rests on eight triangular columns that generate eight semicircular arches, which allow the water to flow down through a gutter that extends at each junction of the arches to avoid stagnation of water between the vertices.
As can be seen in the project sketches, La Capilla de la Santa Cruz, is built with the same concepts as the Jojutla School, also made by Alberto Kalach, where the use of arches arose from the need to attend to the security and resistance of both buildings.
In the same way, as in the aforementioned case, it was decided to use bare concrete that would reveal the marks of the formwork for a matter of durability and practicality; although in this case a reddish tone was used to contrast and frame the sky of the region.
Continuing with this range of colours, the floor was designed as a mosaic using earth tones creating a star in the core starting from the central axis.
The chapel has three entrances facing west, each with two doors that preserve the shape and natural colour of wood, harmonizing with the furniture that follows the same principles governing the work.
The windows are made up of a lattice made with a matt black metal structure with vertical lines in with a wooden cross alternates rhythmically with the metal.
