At a global level, contemporary architecture continues to explore tools and design methodologies to integrate nature into habitable spaces, given its proven benefits and contributions to improving people's quality of life. While there are diverse religious beliefs around the world, religious architecture generally expands beyond its uses and functions to connect with the sacred. Senses, memories, and emotions are transmitted in these spaces through the use of certain materials, spatial organizations, and even sounds and aromas that enhance experiences in atmospheres of spirituality, divinity, and reflection. In Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, and Uruguay, projects for places of worship open to the outdoors reflect an architecture that adapts to different natural environments while maintaining the premise that each religion is tied to a social identity and requires a particular connection with its community and surrounding landscape.
In Latin America, Catholicism has played a significant role in shaping the complex identity of its peoples in various ways, with the Church remaining an influential institution in social life. As explored in "Arquitectura religiosa moderna preconciliar en América Latina" by Francisco Ramírez Potes, religion held a dominant role in the cultural and social life of different communities until the 19th century. However, with the secularization process characteristic of modern culture, its influence shifted, and new social landscapes reflected these changes alongside technical and artistic transformations. Architectural practice sought to redefine itself by reassessing its values and forms, leading to multiple explorations in modern religious architecture.
From Oscar Niemeyer and Luis Barragán to Eladio Dieste and Ricardo Legorreta, several prominent architects from Latin America have designed religious buildings in dialogue with their surroundings, with some becoming urban landmarks. Through the interplay of light and shadow, experiments with reflections, variations in color tones, and other techniques, these spaces can awaken all the senses and create environments of introspection, relaxation, and connection. Within the framework of contemporary architecture, numerous professionals are committed to designing spaces for worship, reflection, silence, and prayer in open-air settings, without vertical or horizontal enclosures, incorporating each site's tropical, humid, warm, or cold climates to make them part of the interior experience. Whether blending into the landscape, like the Capilla de la Tierra in Mexico, or standing out against the horizon, like the Capilla Sacromonte Landscape Hotel in Uruguay, the connection with nature enhances visitors' experiences through the textures, sounds, and aromas of the local environment.
Without Doors: Exploring the Typology of Open-Air Chapels
As described by Óscar Armando García in his book "Capilla abierta: de la prédica a la escenificación," the typology of the open chapel dates back to an architectural resolution from the early decades of evangelization in New Spain, now central Mexico. With a presence on the architectural horizon of the 16th century, it is considered that its purpose was to accommodate a large number of Indigenous people for evangelization, consolidating a space with multiple values and functions for a community in the process of learning and cultural adaptation. Leaving one of its sides open or, in some cases, remaining completely exposed to the elements, several contemporary projects draw inspiration from this typology while also establishing various connections with their surroundings. Amid vineyards, lagoons, hills, and shelters, the Sacromonte Landscape Hotel Chapel by MAPA Arquitetos in Uruguay is conceived as an amplifier of the landscape, blending with its environment while elevating the sensory experience of nature to another level. Using minimal resources, this new space emerges, neither enclosed nor entirely open, a place that exists as an integral part of its surroundings. This way, the interior and exterior dissolve into a diffuse and ambiguous spatial experience, coexisting harmoniously with nature. Meanwhile, the Señor de Tula Sanctuary by Dellekamp Schleich + AGENdA Agencia de Arquitectura in Mexico revisits the open chapel typology, creating a threshold space between indoors and outdoors with undefined boundaries that allow for greater occupation, multiple uses, and more.
While La Escondida Chapel by Apaloosa Estudio de Arquitectura y Diseño + Walter Flores Arquitecto in La Garza, Mexico, seeks to establish a direct connection with its users, the María Catarina Chapel by Canalli Arquitetura in Irati, Brazil, is set within a preserved forest of century-old araucaria trees, integrating seamlessly with the landscape. In both cases, as well as in the Chapel of the Earth by Cabrera Arqs in Mexico, these are open chapels that, through various materials, lighting strategies, and arrangements of natural elements, promote spaces for relaxation, meditation, and prayer.
Sacromonte Landscape Hotel Chapel / MAPA Arquitetos
Señor de Tula Sanctuary / Dellekamp Schleich + AGENdA Agencia de Arquitectura
La Escondida Chapel / Apaloosa Estudio de Arquitectura y Diseño + Walter Flores Arquitecto
Chapel of the Earth / Cabrera Arqs
María Catarina Chapel / Canalli Arquitetura
Using and/or Reusing Local Materials
Aiming to establish relationships between architecture and landscape, the use of local materials, technologies, and construction techniques plays a key role in various projects for chapels, temples, synagogues, and monasteries. The Chapel at the Foot of the São José Mountain Range by MACh Arquitetos employs construction principles common in Brazilian architectural culture. Located in Tiradentes, Brazil, its quartz block walls display subtle variations in the patterns of stone arrangement and the spaces between them, highlighting the craftsmanship of different workers involved in its construction. Subtly and integratively affirming itself within the landscape, its architecture seeks to connect people with nature, the surroundings, and the cosmos, promoting environmental care and appreciation through the preservation of existing trees, land management, and a symbiotic relationship with the landscape.
Meanwhile, the Tile Chapel by Jimenez Arquitectos + FB+ estudio in Ecuador offers an architectural solution with the least possible construction and economic resources from the area. While the minga, a communal self-building practice, serves as the primary means, as all the parish’s neighbors come together daily to construct their chapel, the project focuses on local construction materials such as stone, earth, wood, and tile. Due to rural-to-urban migration, many homes in the area were abandoned, and the tiles remained intact over time. As a result, this material was chosen as the primary component of the structure due to its recyclability, weather resistance, and capacity for repetition. On the other hand, the design of The Chapel Ingá-Mirim by messina | rivas in Itupeva, Brazil, involves dismantling materials from the old building to grant them a new condition. Together with the farm caretakers, the construction process analyzed how materials from old local buildings could be reused. Using the preexisting foundation, three stone walls from the former road were erected, and between them, dismantled bricks from the colony were repurposed to create spaces that emphasize continuity between construction and landscape.
Chapel at the Foot of the São José Mountain Range / MACh Arquitetos
Tile Chapel / Jimenez Arquitectos + FB+ estudio
The Chapel Ingá-Mirim / messina | rivas
More Than Illumination: The Role of Natural Light and Its Integration with Movable Enclosures
Light in religious spaces is closely linked to establishing a connection between the sacred and the earthly. Highlighting their shapes and structures on some occasions, light in religious architecture acts as an additional material that fosters a connection between interior and exterior, reflects on certain architectural volumes, and enables deeper experiences of spirituality. For example, El Perdido Spiritual Space by estudio ALA in El Pescadero, Mexico, seeks to mediate between exterior and interior, allowing for both spiritual and social events by opening its tall doors to expand its capacity. Beyond being built with natural and endemic materials such as the vara de arco from a local shrub, palm, wood, and compacted walls with earth from the site, the interior benefits from permanent natural and cross ventilation, as its façade filters sunlight and provides continuous airflow.
Through the use of movable, sliding, liftable, or foldable enclosures, places of worship can not only take advantage of natural ventilation and lighting for specific purposes but also extend their uses to the exterior, accommodating more people and a wider range of activities. The Ecumenical Center by Carolina Maluhy in São Paulo, Brazil, is designed to host different ceremonies from any religion. Situated within a native forest, it integrates nature with the space by designing a rectangular wooden box on the inside with a glass enclosure to the outside. Meanwhile, the Jesuit Chapel by Solo Eduardo in Brazil allows visitors to observe different natural landscapes and sunsets, inspiring meditation and contemplative states. The design of the chapel and its functions were conceived with materials integrated into the environment. Additionally, its glass walls allow for the complete opening of the front of the chapel, accommodating more people and enabling free air circulation within the space.
El Perdido Spiritual Space / estudio ALA
Ecumenical Center / Carolina Maluhy
Jesuit Chapel / Solo Eduardo
Now, “how should the sacred spaces of the 21st century be?” is the question raised by MAPA Arquitetos. While discussions and debates on the topic yield various interpretations and perspectives, contemporary religious architecture seeks to explore reflections on materiality, connections with the natural environment, construction technologies, community values, and new spatial configurations, among others. Delving deeper into this subject, one might ask: What other factors should be considered in the design of spaces for worship and prayer to meet the current needs of human beings? How could the sense of belonging and the connection of communities with their beliefs be strengthened through the perception of space?
This article is part of the ArchDaily Topics: Atmosphere in Architecture and Perception of Space, proudly presented by Vitrocsa, the original minimalist windows since 1992.
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