Parroquia de San Josemaría Escrivá

Mexico City, Mexico

2009

Aerial view of San Josemaría Escrivá Church's zinc-clad triangular form in Santa Fe, with the Mexico City skyline beyond. By Sordo Madaleno.

A diminutive landmark in the west of Mexico City, the San Josemaría Escrivá Church makes space for sacred architecture within an urban context of rapid transformation and commercial activity. The Santa Fe neighbourhood in which it sits is characterised mainly by its role as a business district—itsmany high-rise offices and residential towers contrasting the lower-rise scale of central Mexico City neighbourhoods. The San Josemaría Escrivá Church acts as both counter and companion to the area’s surrounding architectural character. It is an unmistakably contemporary space, yet set apart by a gently twisted form that encourages a slower gaze—an invitation for pause and contemplation.

San Josemaría Escrivá Church illuminated at night, its zinc-clad triangular volumes rising above Santa Fe, Mexico City. By Sordo Madaleno.

San Josemaría Escrivá Church, Santa Fe, Mexico City, 2009. Photography by Timothy Hursley. Sordo Madaleno archive.

Formed of two large curved and inclined outer walls, the church is constructed in steel and lined externally with zinc, internally with timber. It reads as a sinuous, sculptural object built on a series of layers, each of which house crypts and other complementary spaces. In its verticality, it takes on a role as successor to Sordo Madaleno’s San Ignacio de Loyola church in Polanco—built 30 years earlier—where the sacred space is also cast as a structure pulled towards the sky; a habitable steeple of light.

Close-up of zinc scale cladding on the curved façade of San Josemaría Escrivá Church, Santa Fe, Mexico City. By Sordo Madaleno.

San Josemaría Escrivá Church, Santa Fe, Mexico City, 2009. Photography by Timothy Hursley.

Interior nave of San Josemaría Escrivá Church during mass, with timber-lined curved walls and Cross of Light above the altar. By Sordo Madaleno.

The interior of the church is defined by formal and material minimalism. A large crucifix acts as the only vertical element within the space, becoming both the focus of spiritual worship and spatial support

With San Josemaría Escrivá, light is directed through a continuous skylight that traces the apex of the building, creating a dramatic shaft of light as opposed to even, muted illumination. The church is a symbol of modernity, its form representative of renewal. Built on a reclaimed site once used as a landfill, the project’s striking shape announces its function as catalyst for spatial redefinition. Its message is one of transformation and continuity—converting neglected land into a place of contemplation and community.