St. Ovídio Chapel By Álvaro Siza Through The Lens Of Fernando Guerra

A pure volume, slightly lit, sits in the middle of a garden. It is a private chapel in Quinta de St. Ovídio in Lousada, built between 1989 and 2001 and designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira. The project starts from a path, where you can see the prismatic white volume from afar. As you pass through the building and some steps, you arrive at the entrance square. Here you will notice that Siza differentiated the main facade, in stone, from the other three, in white painted concrete, giving it importance.

At the entrance, next to the stone gable, a linear concrete bench is laid out perpendicularly.

Entering through a wooden door, the walls are concrete, the openings are few and in simple form. The rips in the cross and semicircle shapes are strategically arranged in the gables, to bring the user closer to the idea of holiness.

Inside: An altar designed in stone, wooden furniture designed by the architect, and small spots of artificial light.

The photographer Fernando Guerra transports us to the building, through a walk inside, in which one can perceive the passage of the day and the peace that the place transmits. See the photo gallery below: