Ephemeral Religious Architecture—The Visits of the Pope to Madrid

Abstract

On the occasion of mass religious events, liturgical ceremonies leave the temple and occupy public space. That is the case of the visits of the Pope or World Youth Days. How does architecture approach the ephemeral construction of this space? What architectural strategies can be used? In the city, the roles are inverted, and the exterior public space becomes an interior delimited by streets and facades that contain the assembly of faithful. How can this urban transformation be “designed”? This article presents several architectural strategies materialized in a series of ephemeral religious architecture projects in the city of Madrid: the stands for the visit of the Pope in Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Plaza de Colón, Plaza de Cibeles, and Cuatro Vientos airfield. Each of these projects, located in very different urban settings, proposes a different architectural approach. It is evident how the architectural project is, in each case, a response to the characteristics of the urban site in which it is located. City and architecture establish a direct and reciprocal relationship, in which the urban form shapes the architecture that hosts the religious event; vice versa, architecture integrates the city, its limits, its streets, and its facades into the project.

Keywords

• ephemeral architecture
• religious architecture
• sacred space
• urban space
• Madrid