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Architects: AGENdA Agencia de Arquitectura +, Dellekamp Schleich
- Area: 450 m²
- Year: 2020
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Photographs:Sandra Pereznieto, Rafael Gamo
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Manufacturers: Cemex, Ladrillera Mecanizada
Text description provided by the architects. In Jojutla, Morelos, Mexico, the earthquake of September 19, 2017, left more than 2,600 homes destroyed, as most of its public infrastructure too, such as schools, plazas, and the central church. Our team was in charge of the reconstruction of the Santuario del Señor de Tula, a heritage worship center with more than five centuries of history.
The project is developed from a large roof made up of brick vaults, supported by a cast-in-place concrete structure. The structure is resolved from a structural arch on each side that is supported only in the corners. This solution allows the passage of air and the entry of comfortable light for ceremonies, thus avoiding the use of mechanical air conditioning systems and excessive energy consumption in artificial lighting.
The floor plan follows the classic typology of the cross-shaped basilica, but at the same time, it seeks to redefine it through the section. The staggering of the floor from the atrium to the altar produces a slow detachment from the outside world, allowing a relationship of privacy and seclusion to be built without losing contact with the tropical space of the gardens and nature. In this way, the space takes up the typology of the open chapel and allows the production of a threshold space, between inside and outside with undefined limits that, in its ambiguity, allow for occupation, the multiplicity of uses, and above all, the certainty of the church being a space for everyone.
