San Juan Monastery Roof

Description

The Monastery of San Juan in Burgos (Spain) was raised in the 11th century as part of a group of buildings around a Benedictine monastery outside the original walls of the city. The monastery is a landmark for the pilgrims taking up the route of the Way of Saint James just before the entrance to the old city across the Arco de San Juan.Some parts of the old church and cloister are architectural remains that still exist today. The purpose of this project focuses only on the space of the ancient church, a unique area that is currently in ruins. The historical study concluded that the original temple had three naves with many chapels, but after suffering successive fires (in 1436 and 1537) and the bombing of the town’s castle by Napoleon’s troops, the temple was reduced to ruins. However, in the remaining exterior sidewalls, some gothic elements can still be admired which undoubtedly embellish the piece, remnants that should be retained and enhanced as the reminiscent of the past that they represent. Nowadays this space has now been converted into an open-air garden-square used to host various events and celebrations.The project to cover the ruins of the church of the Monastery of San Juan, is intended to protect the architectural remains of the temple and at the same time to create a new protected space to celebrate cultural activities regardless of weather conditions.The new roof takes the shape of a large folded plane that evokes and takes us from its essence to the ecclesiastical typology of the three-nave temple that originally existed. Two horizontal planeshave been added to the folded surface in order to cover the apse and the northwest area. This set of plans,blending the contemporary vision with the respect for the remains of the church, seems to "float" above the ruin as an independent structure keeping the perception of architectural remains unaltered.From a construction point of view, this proposal is strongly respectful towards the architectural remains. The planes of the cover are extended beyond the limits of the ruins, above walls, in order to ensure that the ancient architecture is protected. So as to affect as little as possible the archaeological substrate the cover support is reduced to a minimum with pillars located in the central nave. Limiting the number of pillars inside the church gives a clean and clear understanding view resulting from the absence of elements that could hide details of original pilasters or wall fronts.The project tries to give different cover with respect to ruins perceptions according to each point of view. The size of the cover was a very important point to consider from the beginning of the project to evidence the contemporary character and depth of the proposal while keeping the value of the historical remains. In this regard, very special care was taken to minimize the visual impact from the Arco de San Juan as it is the historic entrance to the old town. From this spot there is no perception of the cover and that is because the cover has been adapted to the different facade heights, tower and roofs to situate it in a clear background with regard to the architectural remains of the main facade in San Juan Square. On the contrary, if we look at the Monastery of San Juan from behind (Alvar García street or Calzadas street), where the city and urbanism change radically into a contemporary environment, the set of planes play a major role by being seen through a screen of trees surrounding the back ruins of the monastery.The realization of the planes of the roof is the same in any case, whether seen from indoorsor outdoors. It is based on a steel structure permanently hiddenas the outside is coated with a matte translucent finish laminated glass and the inside is coated with a suspended ceiling made of wooden slats. Both the translucent glass and the wooden lattice soften the light entering the space, which causes an interesting and suitable scenographic effect. The wood lining acts as a transition between the strong ancient character of the church in ruins and the contemporary straight geometry with glass cladding of the proposed cover.Lighting is key in the intervention. Inside, the natural light filtered through the wood lattice accentuates the covered-uncovered spirit of the proposal and highlights the value of the ruins. However, at night a careful spot lighting of the architectural remains and anindirectly projected general lighting of the wood lining gives to the monumental space a suggestive enhancement. From the outside, the translucent glass folding plane illuminated from inside acts as a lantern that reveals the intense inner cultural activity.With this new cover for the church of Monastery of San Juan, besides ensuring the consolidation and protection of the architectural remains, the city of Burgos will have a new multipurpose and cultural exchange space of 1.300m² for the organization of different activities.(Description provided by the architects)