5.  SAINT BARTHOLOMEW’S CHAPEL, SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

Kevin deFreitas Architects have completed a new chapel, built on the Rincon Indian reservation in San Diego County in California.Catholic/Christian church located in the picturesque back country of San Diego Co. the very small historic St. Bartholomew’s Chapel was destroyed by a wildfire that ravaged the Rincon Indian reservation in late 2007.  Only the original adobe bell tower and original Mission bell survived, which would become the anchor element in the redesign planning. The new design was conceived to reverently knit together “past” and comfortable traditions, while acknowledging and offering something relevant to current and future generations. Thus, emulating or recreating the past literally was not a project goal.  Native American as well as Catholic/Christian symbols and metaphors were referenced in every design element; plan, section, and elevation as a way to infuse meaning into the chapel on several layers.

6.  PORCIÚNCULA DE LA MILAGROSA CHAPEL, BOGOTÁ, CALOMBIA

Daniel Bonilla Arquitectos’s latest project is an open chapel in La Calera, Colombia that is gently nestled into the surroundings. The simplicity of the geometry adds a touch of elegance to the pious space, as the natural features of the environment, wind and light, create “an essential harmony.”

7.  THE FAREWELL CHAPEL, LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA

The farewell chapel is located in a village close to the city of Ljubljana, designed by OFIS Architects. The site plot is next to the existing graveyard. The chapel is cut into the rising landscape. The shape is following the lines of the landscape trajectories around the graveyard. Three curved walls are embracing and dividing the programs. External curve is dividing the surrounding hill from chapel plateau and also reinstates main supporting wall. Services such as storages, wardrobe restrooms and kitchenette are on the inner side along the wall. Internal curve is embracing main farewell space. It is partly glazed and it is opening towards outside plateau for summer gatherings. Roof is following its own curvature producing external porch. Catholic sign is featured as laying cross positioned on the rooftop above the main farewell space. It also functions as luminous dynamic element across the space during the daytime and lighting spark in night time. Materials are polished concrete, larch wood, glass.

8. PARISH CHURCH OF SANTA MONICA, MADRID, SPAIN

Architects Vicens & Ramos, who designed this church, say: “The project whose is already completed is the third proposal. The first two were rejected and it’s a shame. I think that they were much more interesting, at least from the point of view of adherence to the liturgical rules of Vatican II.” The complex is made up of two independent buildings: one houses the church, strictly speaking, and the daily chapel, in a structure with large steel porticoes, while a second block with a structure of reinforced concrete accommodates the housing and parochial rooms. Both are tied together by a continuous corten steel skin which, as a whole, creates a piece that gives an image of great unity and rotundity.