The parish design by tresununuo presents a simple facade that serves as a canvas for the surrounding wooded area. A large, elevated cross crowns the volumetric composition, highlighting the building's religious character. Inside, a careful use of light and shadow qualifies the space, creating a sacred and welcoming atmosphere.
The careful choice of materials seeks to enhance the idea of unity and continuity of the whole. In this sense, exposed brick takes centre stage and extends across all the facades, both inside and outside the project.
Centro Parroquial San Benito Menni by tresunouno. Photograph by Imagen Subliminal.
Project description by tresunouno
The Parish Center is located at one of the main entrances to the Carabanchel neighborhood on a site that spans a steep slope between Via Lusitana and Catorce Olivas Street.
The presence of a small public park adjacent to the site allows the building to assume a corner position, facilitating its visibility.
A compact building is designed, its exterior volumetrics shaped by the diverse requirements of a Parish Center.
Inside, a careful study of light and space characterizes the sacred space and creates a pleasant atmosphere for the different rooms.
The existing unevenness, the position of entrances at different levels, and the need to undertake a phased project (which allowed the temporary construction that housed the previous parish church to be maintained during the works) are factors behind the decision to divide the building into two zones articulated around a central communications and services bay.
From the landscaped spaces along Via Lusitana, the church is accessed through a wide exterior porch that opens onto the area below the choir stalls. In the center of this space, of a more modest height and with a viewing platform overlooking the park, is the baptismal font, facing the altar and marked with a line in the pavement. This lower space also connects the exterior access with the interior communication bay.
A simple façade, designed as a visual backdrop to the trees that line the promenade, integrates a large cross into the structure itself, which forms a façade topped with a crowning element bearing the complex's lettering.
Linked to the lower level, and accessible from Catorce Olivas Street through another covered porch, is the distribution of the rest of the program (chapel, meeting rooms, parish office, and rectory). The position of the chapel and some rooms on this level allows for partial operation of the complex when the needs of its use do not require opening up the remaining spaces on other floors.
The structure housing the bell tower and cross has been designed on the southwest corner, rising above the roof level. Its height and position signify the presence of the Parish Center on the site and, along with the slight elevation of the church roof, is the only element that stands out from the rigorous volume of the building.
The garage located beneath the church space is also accessed from the lower level.
Exposed brickwork extends across all facades to enhance the unity of the complex. Following a similar approach, a single ceramic tile is installed in most of the building's spaces.
The exposed brick interior cladding provides continuity with the exterior. To filter light, the continuous openings above the presbytery and choir stalls incorporate ribs made from textured aluminum panels. In the presbytery area, these ribs are clad with alabaster and lend solemnity to the altar area as the center of the space.
The slight elevation of the presbytery of the church and chapel, the choice of a stone floor (also under the baptismal font), and the gilded plasterwork, which highlights the mural paintings of the iconographic program and integrates the tabernacle, also allude to the liturgical primacy of these spaces.
A detailed study of the installations underlies the decision to locate all the exterior machinery in the open space of the main façade bay on the first floor, freeing up the building's roof spaces for better visual integration into the surroundings.
The treatment of the open spaces has been designed to allow communication between all of them. This makes it possible to surround the entire building's perimeter, connecting the different levels and exterior spaces in a way that facilitates the use of the limited open space resulting from the building's positioning.
