The façade of the Miribilla Church (Santa María Josefa in Miribilla) is made using a modular curtain wall system.
The evolution of glass, as well as that of systems capable of supporting and accommodating larger panels of light, has marked the history of architecture and especially religious architecture. For this reason, the execution of the façade for the Parish of Saint Maria Josefa in the Bilbao neighborhood of Miribilla It represented a huge responsibility for the entire Riventi team.
Both the “campanile” and the southwest facade, made with the RDS modular system, form a set with its own identity, a prism differentiated from the rest of the building's volume through the use of aluminum and glass as cladding, which articulates the different spaces of the building and lets in light in a controlled manner. The system used allowed IMB architects compose the façade freely, using individual elements of different depths that form a three-dimensional mosaic. The modules that alternate three different positions generate a volumetric game The exterior is identified on the inside through coloured glass that filters the light, symbolising the different times of the liturgical year like a stained glass window (Advent, Christmas, Lent and Ordinary Time). In contrast, when night falls, the light that emerges from the interior connects the temple with the exterior, making passers-by take part in its activity. Once again, the prismatic volume plays a leading role, in this case, as a lantern.
The use of glass elements in religious architecture has always sought to connect with the spiritual through the sensorial. To do so, it has used controlled light inputs, colour in stained glass, and now, with curtain wall technology, transparency that allows the integration of urban space into the interior of the temple and vice versa.
Awards
2008 XI Venice Biennale of International Architecture Selected work for the Spanish pavilion exhibition
2010 1st Prize ExAequo, COAVN Architecture Awards
More information about the project in the article Curtain wall for religious expression in the Church of Miribilla
Link to a beautiful photo report by Erlantz Biderbost
