Assembly, Burgohondo, Ávila
New construction for a Cultural and Religious Center
location: Burgohondo, Ávila, Castilla y Léon, Spain
year: 2004-
type: direct commission upon interview
status: in process
area: 300 m2
client: POHUVIPRE
team: Navadijos Tarsoly arquitectos: Eduardo Navadijos, Csaba Tarsoly, Joao Gomes Leitao, Aurélie Maestre, María Dolores Sanchez García, Roberto Sánchez Castro, Aldo Trim
structural engineer: Stefan Polónyi Köln, BAC ecg Madrid
cost consultant: David Gil Zazo
The church rests as a huge stone on the rocky backbone of the hill. The interior is hollowed like a vase of white porcelain, free from any geometrical predeterminations and full of inner tension. At the point of its largest diameter the form comes near to an ellipse with 23m length in the longer axis and 17m in the shorter one. As the ellipse evolves, the space pushes towards the outside at three places and lets indirect natural light inside, twice from above and once reflected from underneath. The white space is absolutely introverted without any view to the exterior. The believers sit facing each other in a circular group on special aluminum chairs stuck into the sloping floor.
The structure is an 80cm concrete slab which has to span up to 35m in the area of the openings. With the definition of this solitary constructive element the interior space and the shape of the church are determined.