In this preliminary draft of reform of the oratory of the Inaya University ResidenceWe propose a renovating proposal but at the same time inspired by the colonial architecture of the house.
We focus mainly on the presbytery, while in the nave we only propose new, more ergonomic pews, a new Stations of the Cross, a new design for the door frames and a change in the lighting, all more in line with the new general design.
Currently the presbytery, of large dimensions, has a Colombian decoration with wooden backgrounds in green and golden geometries based on diagonals and circles. The marble floor has a modern design that we intend to maintain.
We are addressing a proposal for modernization of the presbyteryrooted in Colombian culture and in the architecture of the house, a house of great interest with white walls contrasted with wood carpentry in wenge tones. We are looking for maintaining the main traces of an oratory with more than 50 years of historywith cleaner and clearer lines.
The intervention takes the condition of maintaining the marble floor of the first tier with its geometric drawings, redoing the second tier in a coral red marble, similar to that of the geometric tracings, so that the new altarpiece with more depth does not hide the current drawings of this tier. Here these geometric drawings are no longer created to give more simplicity to the whole.
The altarpiece is a classic vertical composition in the form of a five bodiesbut with modern traces. The five bodies are as follows: a central one to house the tabernacle and a relief of the Holy Family; two sides with reliefs of St. Josemaría and Don Álvaro del Portilloand two other ends with credenzas integrated in a niche.
The entire altarpiece is made from wenge varnished wood strips creating frames around the reliefs that are reinforced with subtle strips of polished stainless steel, contrasting with the dark wood and introducing a note of brightness and light to the altarpiece.
In the lower areas and at the bottom of the niche of the credenzas, there are some roman travertine marble soffitssimilar to that of the present floor, which also bring light to the altarpiece.
The reliefs follow the same tone of the soffits, thus creating a classic composition of an altarpiece but done in a more contemporary way and marking a rectangular outline that serves as a pattern for the design of the rest of the elements of the presbytery.
