Remodeling of the San Gabriel Arcángel parish church in Madrid

GRANDA has just completed the renovation of the San Gabriel parish, in Madrid. This project consisted of the expansion of the Blessed Sacrament Chapelthe creation of a children's chapel symmetrical to the previous one and the extension of the chorus with a wooden forging that spans and covers both chapels.

San Gabriel is a modern church, with a typical construction of the 1960sby the famous architect Francisco Cabrero. The church has an ovoid floor plan and its large nave is covered with a dome.

GRANDA's intervention was carried out at the back of the church where the two chapels are located, at the sides of the main entrance. The aim was to maximum integration with the original architecture of the churchThe concrete louvres that resolve the lateral illumination of the entire nave were used as a point of union. Thus, the expansion of the chapels has been carried out with a partition enclosure following the same layout, but this time made of wood, for its reversibility and warmth.

Following this criterion of reversibility and lightness, the entire structure is made of laminated wood, varnished according to the tone of the wooden entrance door to the church.

The extension of the choir has been carried out with a slab of exposed pine beams and boards and has been finished with a painted wooden cornice, imitating the concrete beam that runs around the perimeter of the nave. Above this cornice, a railing very similar to the existing one has been placed so that it encompasses the whole and creates the sensation of having been made at the time of the construction of the church.

The set follows the same criteria of sobriety, structural sincerity and economy of materials of the rest of the church, this time using only wood and glass.