Villaescusa de Haro, Spain
In hilly central Spain, in Cuenca Province of La Mancha Region, and on a rural estate with centenary holm oaks and truffle cultivation, Juan Carlos Sancho and Sol Madridejos from Sancho-Madridejos Architecture Office have designed a chapel and a house ensemble for the owning family.
The chapel is developed from a single curved fold, conceptually and in its approach related to the Chapel in Valleacerón.
The space of the project is valued through the lighting that plays an important role inside this interesting and unique chapel on top of a hill in central Spain.
The game of shapes designed by the architects is interesting, creating a wide morphology, generating an attractive and large porch with a triangular shape, which decreases in scale until reaching the end of the interior space that compresses its scale and is related in a different way, closest way with the visitor.
The design generates an attractive contrast between the interior and exterior.
A large hanging concrete cross pierces the fold, forming light holes in relation to the orientation, illuminating the room.
The white color of the construction stands out against the landscape in which it is located and acts as a visual reference point.
The chapel arises from a unitary curved fold, which is related conceptually in its approach to the Chapel of Valleacerón.
The fold needed to be built in reinforced concrete so that it works structurally in a unitary and correct way.
Here too, structure, form, and generated space are related in the same gesture. The space is valued in its character by the middle of the light.
In this project, a curved fold is proposed as a response to external stresses in complex topological action.
It is not an origami; it is a formal topological expression—in equilibrium structurally—due to external stresses.
A wide entrance is proposed, which welcomes, to reach a compressed finish.
A large hanging concrete cross pierces the fold, forming light holes in relation to orientation, which casts different types of light throughout the day, and modifies the interior space little by little, but steadily.
It is a space experience as opposed to that of the Chapel of Valleacerón.
The chapel, for which the architects were able to choose its location, acts as a visual reference point, both from access to the rural farm, and from the path to it, where it turns into an access circular.
The house is located in the final section of the access to the chapel, at the top of a small valley giving a light valley of cherry trees and crops with a distant view of the territory in which it is located.
“A big hanging cross in concrete pierces the fold and creates light openings facing certain directions, casting different lights throughout the day, modifying the space inside bit by bit, continuously.”
When visitors look at the chapel from all sides, it gives no clue as to where the entrance is due to its introverted structure.
Project: Chapel in Sierra La Villa
Architects: Sancho-Madridejos Architecture Office SL
Design Team: Juan Carlos Sancho, Sol Madridejos, Víctor Alonso, Daniel G. Marinas, Elena Mira, Félix Bellido, Peio Erroteta, and Gerardo Martín
Engineers: Germán Ferrández
Structural Engineers: Bernabeu Ingenieros
General Contractor: Segesa
Client: Private
Photographers: Hisao Suzuki and J.C. Sancho
