Churches are architecture whereas supermarkets and parking garages are not. At least, that’s what we’ve been taught by Nikolaus Pevsner. What, then, do we make of a work by Pritzker laureate Rafael Moneo that contains all three of these functions? Situated in Riberas de Loiola, a new neighborhood of San Sebastián, the Iesu Church occupies the corner of a park (the Garden of Memory, which honors the 829 victims of the ETA terrorist organization), forming a transition between a rolling verdant landscape and apartment blocks. The inclusion of commercial retail space and parking in the church’s basement allowed the church to offset 75% of its construction costs.
Although this sacred-profane multi-use building is a single building, each of the stacked functions is nevertheless entered separately, at different levels and on opposite sides: the church is entered from the highest elevation while the supermarket and parking garage are both entered from the lowest, taking advantage of the site’s topography.
The temple provides not a single hint of the supermarket, just as the supermarket makes no reference to the church. In fact, the supermarket even sells condoms.
Criticalista 