Photos: David Closes Architects.
It was a sad say in 1835 when the convent of San Francisco in Guardiola, Catalonia, was sacked. Its dilapidation from that moment resulted in the convent’s demolition in 2000. Only the church remained standing, but in a precarious condition. David Closes was invited to resurrect the church with a new auditorium and cultural facilities.
He approached the task from the position that the building’s decay was not to be reversed as such, but rather used to record the past, and provide a foundation to bring new meaning to the building and those that use it.
See how this remarkable transformation was made.
The existing fabric was repaired and consolidated, slowing down its decay, but it was not reconstructed. All new interventions were then made in a contemporary language, making them clearly articulated.
Certain new volumes were required in order to accommodate new functions such as the cinema and circulation. These were arranged so that they did not interfere with the primacy of the nave and ended up hanging half in and half out of the building envelope.
A reminder of the precarious position the church was in.
