Unquera Parish Center Cantabria, Church of the Holy Martyrs Building, Spanish Architecture, Development in Spain

Unquera Parish Center : Church of the Holy Martyrs

Val de San Vicente Building in Cantabria, Spain design by Fernandez-Abascal y Muruzabal + Ortiz y Barrientos

22 May 2013

Unquera Parish Center – Church of the Holy Martyrs Building

Design: Fernandez-Abascal y Muruzabal + Ortiz y Barrientos

Location: Unquera, Val de San Vicente, west of the province of Cantabria, SNorthern Spain

photo : Pablo Ausucua

Contemporary Religious Building in Spain

The center, located in the extension of Unquera, is aligned to a road in the base of the mountain which characterizes and darkens the plot.

photo : Pablo Ausucua

We projected and elementary volume slightly elevated from the land, like a palafito. Its abstraction and scale facilitate its implantation as primary element in the heterogeneous and little qualified urban fabric. Its distance against the ground level avoids the damages caused by the swellings of the Deva river.

photo : Pablo Ausucua

The program was organized in a rectangular plant of extreme proportions,differentiating the functional areas. We access the building trhough a footbridge to the luminous lobby, that articulates the spaces and serves as meeting area. The church has two naves.

The smaller nave is defined by a strong beam and it allocates the confessional and the sacristy. The zenital entrance of the light through the small nave and trhough the bottom of presbitery, clarified by a free wall, emphasizes the space asymmetry.

photo : Pablo Ausucua

The center has an office, two classrooms, open to the side facade, and a band of services.

photos : Pablo Ausucua

The center has been built with very few materials, concrete walls, industrial wood grounds, mixed carpentries… The disposition of the building at the bottom of the parcel, created a new urban space with cypresses and liquidámbares.

photos : Pablo Ausucua

Unquera Parish Center Spain – Building Information

Designers:
Luís Alberto Alonso Ortiz, 12 de junio 1962
Joaquín Barrientos Barquín, 27 de junio 1962
Eduardo Fdez.-Abascal Teira, 26 de mayo 1956
Florentina Muruzábal Sitges, 9 de agosto 1957

Collaborators: Carlos Alberto Gómez Santos ; Raquel Gómez Gregorio
Structural engineering: Miguel Terán, estructura. JGM Inconor, instalaciones.
Buildings
Client: Obispado de Santander
Area Surface: 444,60 sqm

Photographer: Pablo Ausucua

photos : Pablo Ausucua