Interactive floor plan: Capilla del Retiro, Chile
![Large stone walls in mountains](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/esZQxvWCWCqJYcEZJvXr9W-415-80.jpg)
Chile's reputation as a crucible for rigorously crisp yet evocative contemporary architecture continues to swell with this new chapel in Santuario Santa Teresa de Los Andes in Auco.
Set in the heart of the Valley of the Andes, the Capilla del Retiro is set alongside Auco's Carmelite Monastery, a red-roofed, white-walled complex that nestles on the valley floor.
The new chapel, designed by Cristian Undurraga of Undurraga Deves Arquitectos, is a modest square concrete structure, an arrangement of four intersecting concrete walls, raised up on blocks and signposted by a modest cross on a pole.
There is more than initially meets the eye. Beneath the structural grid created by the four hefty concrete walls there is a sizeable hole, roughly excavated and faced with rustic stone to create an artificial geographical feature.
The chapel itself is a wooden box, built from recycled railway sleepers and suspended from the concrete structure above it. This in turn is set within glass walls, creating the illusion of a room suspended in a void, an inversion of the traditional top-lit ecclesiastical space.
The worship space is accessed by a snaking ramp that descends from the north, taking visitors underground before they emerge in the closeted warmth of the chapel.
The absence of distant views focuses the mind, while natural light is filtered by the warmth of the surrounding stone to create a calm, life-affirming retreat in the rugged landscape.
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
The chapel is a modest square concrete structure...
...an arrangement of four intersecting concrete walls, raised up on blocks...
...signposted by a modest cross on a pole
The worship space is accessed by ramps that take visitors underground before they emerge in the closeted warmth of the chapel
The chapel is set alongside Auco's Carmelite Monastery...
...in the heart of the Valley of the Andes
The worship space is set within glass walls
The glass walls create the illusion of a room suspended in a void
The building itself is a wooden box, built from recycled railway sleepers and suspended from the concrete structure above it
The worship space
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published