Word: moneo
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...Lady of the Angels is the work of Jose Rafael Moneo, the great Spanish architect whose roots are simultaneously in the here and now and in the sunlit antiquity of the Mediterranean rim. It was built in part because the Los Angeles archdiocese's previous seat, a much smaller church called St. Vibiana's, was badly damaged in the 1994 earthquake. But it was also built because L.A.'s powerful Roger Cardinal Mahony wanted it. Six years ago Mahony interviewed for the project a series of architects, including Frank Gehry, whose irresistible Walt Disney Concert Hall is going up just...
Whatever Mahony may have thought about Gehry's exuberant aesthetic, he found a kindred spirit in Moneo, a 1996 winner of the Pritzker Prize, the crown jewel of architectural awards. But even before its official opening, on Labor Day weekend, there have been grumblings that the cathedral's asymmetrical and angular silhouette departs too sharply from conventional notions of church design, especially that of Catholic churches. There have also been complaints that its $163 million cost is too high, especially at a time when the archdiocese may have to spend heavily to settle court claims of sexual abuse by priests...
...Moneo has said he wants his church "to offer a space where people feel more able to isolate themselves from daily life." Monasticism may seem an odd inspiration for a building as central to the larger community as a cathedral, but it's key to this one, a high-walled enclosure in ocher concrete with a minimum of window or entryway cuts in its lower half. The mostly windowless exterior and the Spanish-mission-style walls that surround the entire compound can make the church seem to be holding itself apart from the city. The edgy silhouette is both familiar...
...anyone accustomed to entering a church quickly through its front door, the deferred gratification of Moneo's passageway will be puzzling. Moneo has likened the walk down that hallway to the soul's journey toward God's light. In this case the soul turns right at the end of its journey to enter at last into the high-ceilinged, sunlit nave of the church; when it arrives there, all misgivings drop to the ground. Moneo is a master of interior spaces, an expert at setting traps for sunlight. An addition he designed a few years ago for the Museum...
This building, designed by architect Rafael Moneo, will house the Center for Imaging Mesoscale Structures, one of Knowles' other science initiatives...