Santa María de los Ángeles

“It is a parish centre in which the church, with its triangular plan – like an arrow – has become this shape not only because of the geometry of the site, but also because of a clear intention to make the whole of the religious space converge on the altar. On the other hand, the intention was to openly separate the church from the rest of the surrounding dwellings. The parish buildings are grouped together facing the garden and the north-south façade. The entrance to the church is not directly from the street, but is arranged in such a way as to create an open area that allows the people to stop before and after church services without hindering traffic on the pavements. The bell tower marks the separation between the church and the adjoining houses, as a sufficiently important element to delimit the parish and residential areas. The brickwork, with the metallic structural elements of the church, shows the simplicity and modesty of a construction system in accordance with the religious criteria that Christianity of our time is tending towards. In the same line, an attempt has also been made to move away from gimmicky decoration to achieve a dignified architecture with the greatest simplicity of materials. Parallel to this aesthetic approach, a moral approach has been followed in order to obtain, with the least possible expense, an ensemble that would be an expression of the current Christian sense. The mission of the architects has been to create a plastic and worthily expressive religious space within the simplicity and modesty with which construction problems in Spain should be treated.” “Se trata de un centro parroquial en el cual la iglesia, de planta triangular-como una flecha-, ha venido a dar en esta forma no sólo por la geometría del solar, sino por una clara intención de hacer converger en el altar todo el ámbito del espacio religioso.