Church in Gandía

Abstract

In the initial remarks of this articles the architect of the Gandía Church pays heartfelt tribute to the memory of Eduardo Torroja, who was the collaborating engineer on this project, and who died after its construction had already begun. The architect goes on to deal with various aspects of the design, which can be summarised as follows. The construction of this church was necessary because the original building had been destroyed. The type of arrangement adopted, whereby the cloisters—quiet and with an outside view—are incorporated to the main nave of the church, is justified because in summer time the congregation is vastly augmented by those vacationing in Gandía. This has saved the necessity of building a church that would have been unnecessarily large during the rest of the year and would have lost much of its intimacy and charm. The composition of the enclosing walls is also discussed by the author, who indicates how the structure itself has been utilized as main contrasting element, both outwards and inwards. This has led to such distinct effects as those provided by the northern and southern elevations; whilst still retaining a deep sincerity of design. The distribution of the main sections of the project is described, and the internal composition is closely analysed. Attention is drawn to how the zone of the high altar has been made into the axis and centre of the whole interior by suitably forcing to this end the lighting and the materials. Finally the architect emphasizes the technical interest of the structural design which so faithfully meets the functional requirements and results in an integrated whole of great merit and originality, that fits perfectly into the overall composition.