Architects: Ramón Fernández-Alonso
Area: 3,000 m²
Year: 2017
Photography: Jesús Granada
Technical Team: Carmen González Martin / Sergio Garcia Pedrajas
Quantity Surveyors: Miguel Angel Jimenez Dengra
Lighting: ALS Lighting
City: San Sebastián de los Reyes
Country: Spain
The SMG Church Complex in San Sebastián de los Reyes, Madrid, designed by Ramón Fernández-Alonso, is a multifunctional space that accommodates a parish, community classrooms, and residential units. Completed in 2017, the complex features ceramic and ventilated facades that align with the surrounding urban and park landscapes, offering visual continuity with nearby residential and commercial structures. Durable metal framing and inclined roofs add stability to the building’s expansive design, creating a balanced blend of form and function within its compact footprint.
Facing both park and city, the SMG Church Complex addresses its dual settings by adapting its scale and design to fit each. On the park side, the building’s church-like volume integrates with the surrounding valley landscape and nearby leisure facilities, while on the urban side, its rhythmic arrangement of openings complements the structure and style of adjacent residential buildings.
The building encompasses six primary areas: a church, featuring the nave, presbytery, and baptistery on the ground floor, with choir spaces and an adoration chapel on the first floor; parish and Caritas offices housed in six ground-floor offices; and classrooms on levels one and two, providing six classrooms, two of which are divisible, with auxiliary spaces accommodating up to 180 students. Additionally, the structure includes multipurpose rooms of 66 m² and 105 m² located on the ground floor and basement, as well as residential units comprising two studio apartments and two larger units across three upper levels. The basement garage offers space for 16 vehicles, along with storage and technical facilities.
Material choices reflect the building’s integration within the local context. The ceramic façades link it with the surrounding brick buildings, while lightweight, ventilated façade systems are anchored with aluminum supports that connect with the adjacent commercial structures.
Inclined roofs and façades, resolved through U-profile straps on metal beams, form a ventilated envelope, with sandwich panels positioned between the interior framework and the ceramic façade, unifying the building’s exterior.
The metal structure primarily consists of a framework of pillars and beams, while the worship space and cantilevered incline incorporate large lattice beams that stabilize the building. These structural braces effectively counteract wind and thermal stresses along the building’s 40-meter longitudinal axis, ensuring stability across the extended layout.
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Project Location
Address: 9 Gregorio Marañón, San Sebastián de los Reyes, Madrid 28702, Spain
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
