Chapel for a Country Estate and Hunting Lodge

Rudolf Stegers

Description

Situated in the province of Ciudad Real, on the crest of a hill surrounded by barren countryside, the chapel is part of a small country estate and hunting lodge, which encompasses a manor house, a warden’s residence and trophy pavilion. The secular and the sacred architecture of the “feudal” estate are as extravagant as one another but stand apart, the profane buildings clustered together, the church higher up and to one side; the former rendered snow-white and entirely orthogonal, the latter a matt concrete structure and entirely diagonal.

As there is nothing far and wide to compare it with, the chapel initially appears quite large. In reality, however, it fits in a square of only 8.4 by 11.2 metres. The 20 centimetre thick concrete walls were cast in situ and left fair faced. The marble additive in the mixture lends the crystalline form a varying sheen. Somewhat fragile and unstable looking at the front, at the back more robust and stable, the building reaches 10.6 metres at its highest point. In front of and to the left of the entrance, the folded composition changes most dramatically in rising and falling triangular and trapezoidal planes. The door is made of corten steel, as are the window frames and mullions.

Arriving from the northwest, one enters the chapel and faces the black steel cross on the rear wall. The construction artfully conceals the source of the light that illuminates the chapel. On the one hand, sunlight enters through a full-height strip of glazing next to and above the door, although one is not aware of its full extent as one enters the chapel; on the other, sunlight enters from above and the side through a room-wide toplight and a sidelight at the rear of the building. One stands in a space that is anything but dark, although the only window one can actually see is a tiny square in the middle of the rear wall.

Architectural critics have likened the building to Japanese origami. Certainly, the folded plane and process of folding is a generative aspect of the design. Without the influence of the work of so-called deconstructivists such as Peter Eisenman or Rem Koolhaas, and without the help of computer-aided design, the building would not have had this form. In most cases, adjectives such as “sculptural” or “autonomous” are applied to describe spaces originally built to serve a particular function. In Valleacerón, however, the creation of a work of art has become reality. The “folie architecturale” can simply be itself for its own sake; it need not serve the needs of a congregation, only that of private contemplation in an increasingly pleasure-oriented society.

Bibliography

Architectural Record, no. 4/2001, pp. 73- | Architecture and Urbanism, no. 7/2003, pp. 92- | Architektur Aktuell, no. 5/2006, p. 2 | Cargill Thompson, Jessica: 40 Architects under 40, Cologne 2000, pp. 456- | Cohen, Jean-Louis, Moeller, G. Martin (Ed.): Liquid Stone. New Architecture in Concrete, Basel 2006, pp. 160- | Construction Moderne, no. 122/2006, back cover, p. 31, pp. 34- | El Croquis, no. 106/107/2001, pp. 198- | Deutsche Bauzeitung, no. 9/2002, pp. 51- | Heathcote, Edwin, Moffatt, Laura: Contemporary Church Architecture, Chichester 2007, pp. 110- | Kunst und Kirche, no. 1/2002, p. 27 | AMC Le Moniteur Architecture, no. 138/2003, pp. 106- | The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture, Comprehensive Edition, London 2004, p. 433 | Richardson, Phyllis: New Sacred Architecture, London 2004, pp. 38- | Riley, Terence: On-Site. New Architecture in Spain, exhibition catalogue, New York 2005, pp. 40- | Techniques et Architecture, no. 452/2001, pp. 86- | 1000 x European Architecture, (n.p.) Berlin 2007, p. 162 | 10 x 10 _ 2. 100 Architekten 10 Kritiker, Berlin 2006, pp. 322-