Chapel in Zamora, Michoacán Church, Capilla del Lago, New Mexico Architecture

Chapel in Zamora : Michoacán Building

Capilla del Lago, Zamora, Mexico – design by Di Vece Arquitectos

21 Nov 2011

Chapel in Zamora

Design: Di Vece Arquitectos

Location: Michoacán, Mexico

Di Vece Arquitectos won the 2011 Bienale of the National academy of architecture, at the state of Jalisco, in México ; “Academia Nacional de Arquitectura, capítulo Guadalajara” with a chapel located in the city of Zamora, in the state of Michoacán.

photos from architects

Capilla del Lago

The architectonic concept for this ecumenical chapel is that the countless columns that disorderly support the rectangular roof for the chapel, are conceived as an analogy of a group of filaments that, when lit with the proper energy, can illuminate our earthly lives with a glimpse of heavenly light.

According to Pythagoras “this is world is false and illusive, a turbid medium in which the rays of heavenly light are broken and obscured in mist and darkness”. 1.

Mother Teresa, on the other hand, tells us that through constant prayer we can become an instrument of the divine light that illuminates the world.

“The filaments of the light bulbs are useless if they are not energized.
You, me, are filaments.
The energy is God.
We have the possibility of letting this energy pass through ourselves and let it utilize us in order to produce light for the world”. 2.

This ecumenical chapel takes advantage of its central position within the residential development in order to remind its users that spiritual life has become a forgotten priority in our everyday lives; the chapel takes the central stage of the development in order to emphasize the possibility of making the act of praying a useful habit that cannot only help each one of its inhabitants to find their own path in life, but it can also help every one of them to become an energized filament that can produce light for the world.

photos from architects

This chapel is configured as a lightweight structure, almost ephemeral, that makes itself accessible by everyone at anytime; the chapel dissolves its boundaries in order to impregnate itself of its immediate surroundings and becomes a semi transparent object difficult to idealize. This building performs as a character that acts under the effects of light, that changes with sunlight, that becomes enhanced by its users and celebrates its mission as a catalyst of the everyday activities proper of this residential development.

Furthermore, spirituality is no longer a luxury for a few, that can only be achieved through a scheduled visit to a sacred site, but it could become a usual state of mind that transforms the commonness of our everyday lives into a more spiritual experience.

photos from architects