THE ARCHITECTURAL GEOMETRY OF THE CHURCH OF CRISTO OBRERO Y NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LOURDES

Abstract

The object of study of this paper is the Church of Cristo Obrero y Nuestra Señora de Lourdes, in the city of Atlántida, Uruguay, designed and built by Uruguayan engineer Eladio Dieste between 1956 and 1960, and proclaimed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021. Furthermore, the object of study is the outset of Eladio Dieste’s experimentations with reinforced brickwork, which resulted in innovative thin-shell structural typologies. Hence, the objective of this article is to verify the geometrical relationships within the continuous gaussian vaults of the Cristo Obrero’ roof and the ruled surfaces of its lateral walls. The proposed methodological procedures for this research were the in situ visitation of the object of study, followed by the consultation of original construction drawings, as well as the exploratory parametric modeling and polynomial regression of the architectural geometry of the Church of Cristo Obrero. Amongst the expected contributions for this research reside the dissemination of Latin-American modern architectural heritage sites within European academic journals, digital design technologies within Latin-American research centres, as well as the fostering of the comprehension of the design and construction process of the Uruguayan engineer Eladio Dieste.