LOCATION
Jundaì, São Paulo, Brazil

STATUS
Achieved

CHRONOLOGY
1994 - 1995

CATEGORY
Community buildings.

The design of the church is based on the intention to create a highly spiritual space that can be naturally linked to everyday life: a space that is both symbolic and real, contemplative and participatory, in which the presence of the assembly of the faithful is the dominant element in the use of this space.

The project is based on precise planivolumetric and functional indications regarding the inclusion in a single building of both a space for liturgical celebrations, capable of accommodating about 200 people seated and the services attached to it, and a more "profane" space, represented by a hall for meetings, parties and gatherings, also equipped with the relative service areas.

Modularity, geometry, symmetry and centrality are the key elements of the project: the "cross", a Christian sign par excellence, is the generating element.

A modular grid punctuates its development, its pace, its rhythm, highlighting the use of elementary compositional rules that are therefore easily perceived both in terms of execution and perception.

Access to the church is from three points: the main entrance, corresponding to the central axis of the cross; and the two side entrances located at the arms on the intersection of which rises the bell tower with its articulated shape, composed of juxtaposed metal profiles forming four partitions placed at an angle which, when read in plan, also draw a cross.

The south façade of the church, of extreme simplicity and immediate legibility, is rhythmically marked by the differentiation of the materials used, which in turn emphasise the volumetric development and the construction technologies used to guarantee its execution. Two formally compact, solid brick towers at the ends of the façade enclose a large full-height cross standing out against a recessed brick surface, the actual façade of the church, formed by the intersection of two pairs of concrete blades and slabs. These elements in turn enclose a transparent glass-cement surface, which allows light to penetrate inside in the form of a suggestive cross of light.