Detail of the project ed. 2024

imac­u­la­­da-and-cheia-de-gra­­ca-chapel / Portugal

Design­er António Jorge de Moura Leitão Cere­jeira Fontes
Loca­tion R. de São Domin­gos 94B, 4710–435 Braga
Nation Por­tu­gal
Design Team

António Jorge de Moura Leitão Cere­jeira Fontes
André de Moura Leitão Cere­jeira Fontes
Asb­jörn Andresen
Lisa Sigfridsson
Joaquim Félix
António Dias
Orlan­do Rodrigues
Bruno Marques
Nuno Cruz
Duarte Vilaça
Cristóvão Piairo
Sónia Sousa
Mafal­da Ribeiro
Year 2017
Pho­to credits

Nel­son Gar­ri­do — Inter­nal Pho­tos; Exter­nal Pho­tos 1, 2, and 3.
Gonça­lo Gomes — Exter­nal Pho­tos 4 and 5.

Pho­to external

Project descrip­tion

The project focused on the restora­tion of the Imac­u­la­da and Cheia de Graça Chapel, in the Minor Sem­i­nary of Bra­ga. A small wood­en for­est fil­ters the access to the assem­bly and acts as a sup­port for the Imac­u­la­da Chapel, which ris­es in the canopy of the arbo­re­al struc­ture. Lost among these archi­tec­tur­al trees, one can sur­ren­der com­plete­ly to the dimen­sion of the senses.

Sup­port­ed by a con­cealed steel struc­ture that makes it appear as if sus­pend­ed in space, a sculp­tur­al con­crete vault envelops the chapels in a light ges­ture that defies its own mate­ri­al­i­ty. The open­ings in this dome, extend­ing in slits along its con­crete walls, fil­ter the sun­light, impart­ing a sense of open­ness and a qui­et dig­ni­ty to the space – a space of absolute silence. Because of this vault, the chapel assumes a cir­cu­lar form that favors both meet­ing and pri­vate intro­spec­tion. In the back­ground, a mar­ble slit, nat­u­ral­ly back­lit, ris­es in one of the orig­i­nal stone walls, trans­port­ing the view­er to anoth­er phys­i­cal and spir­i­tu­al dimension.

The total ceil­ing height of the inter­ven­ing space and the out­er walls of the room were tak­en advan­tage of, expos­ing the exist­ing stone “skin” that sur­rounds the chapel. This endows the space with an acoustic and tac­tile qual­i­ty: we can feel the space with our ears and our skin. The echoes of our steps along the church and the rever­ber­a­tion of the chants on the stone walls, the soft light that floods the place, the cold con­crete and the warm wood, the omnipresent quiet­ness that is at once over­pow­er­ing and com­fort­ing – they all come togeth­er in a sin­gle, divine expe­ri­ence of space.

Explana­to­ry report of the project
Down­load report

Pho­to internal

Tech­ni­cal drawings

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