Architects: OAB
Location: Terrassa, Spain
Project Architects: Carlos Ferrater y Lucía Ferrater
Technical Architect: Enric Betlinski
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Alejo Bagué
Project Area: 2,792 sqm
Collaborators : Emiliano Scotti
After twelve years of searching for a place, the United Evangelical Church of Terrassa, a century-old institution in the city, finds its place in the neighborhood of Can Tusell Avenue fronting the Béjar Avenue; a major access road to the city which communicates with the industrial area.
The building, which occupies one third of the place with access from the Béjar Avenue, celebrates cult every Sunday morning with social purposes. This is possible due to an agreement with the City.
The height of the temple decreases because of the slope, formed by coating steel strips on which are suspended two bodies. In a central position, stands a bucket coated with a new material of recycled aluminum. The other body, that is lower in height and closer to Tramuntana Street, is suspended and exits as cantilever. In this case, the edges frame some aluminum walls which act as bride soleil for a child care program. The Béjar Avenue facade is presented as a tight, rigorous and continuous wall which hides its access. The two side walls show their kindest face where vegetation hides a fence, which acts as the second front so that all perimeter spaces enjoy light and ventilation as well as privacy and security.
Since the nursery is accessed by a higher and separated level, the functional program both religious and social, is developed mostly in the ground floor plan except for a mezzanine suspended above twice the space of the worship room. A reception area leads and distributes the administration area and a corridor that provides access to twelve classrooms. In front of the classrooms is located the worship room. It has a system of movable partitions that establishes a direct relationship with the adjacent spaces, which in turn relate to the outside through patios.
While the inside compositional criteria meets the functional criteria, the exterior one respond to the situation, guidance and above all the desire to be a discreet building from close range, and at the same time be a benchmark of evangelical worship from a farther distance.
