As part of a competition by invitation to design a chapel devoted to our Lady of Guadalupe in Miami, Florida, Fernando Romero’s winning proposal translates the traditional iconography of the Roman Catholic Church into a contemporary parametric built form. The chapel’s innovative structure finds inspiration in the pleats of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s tilma, or cloak, gathering and turning in a vertical funnel soaring upwards to the sky and capped by a skylight. The funnel also functions as an acoustic filter.

A suspended oculus displaying Our Lady of Guadalupe filters light into the presbytery, complementing the gold patina of the polished concrete surface and casting a warm, soft glow throughout the chapel’s interior.

Fernando Romero chose to incorporate iconography and symbolism from the wide range of regional Catholicism represented throughout Latin America, a nod to the diversity of Miami’s Latin culture.

Within the folds of the pleats are 27 smaller sanctuaries, each one a representation of the different Madonnas depicted throughout the Latin American Catholic Church. The iconic shape dramatizes the ecumenical atmosphere of the cathedral, giving it a singular and instantly recognizable identity.