The church of Els Trinitaris of Vic, which follows the Baroque style and dates from 1741, has reached the present day with the signs and wounds of the times it has lived through: from the fires of the Spanish Civil War, which left the central vaults black with accumulated soot, to the work carried out during the second half of the 20th century, when it housed a theatre with all its technical equipment, which is now obsolete. In a framework full of important historical and social pre-existences for the town, the new foreseen uses - from conferences, social events, exhibitions or concerts for up to 500 people - urgently require operations both for the renovation and rehabilitation of the roofs, and the updating of the electrical and climate systems, as well as the recovery of the spatial values of the interior of the church and its adaptation as a flexible and conformable device. All this accompanied by a low budget (724,000 euros) and a significant time constraint (4 months). We returned to a state close to the original, freeing the space of all the scenographic noise (provisional partitions, added structures, tarpaulins, lights, etc.) and once stripped, we worked exclusively with metal and light. All the new elements necessary or impossible to recover (furniture, stage, access doors, floors, etc.), have been built with steel without pickling (accepting the calamine that remains from the industrial process as an element of colour variation) and perforated and bichrome sheets, all of them arranged in a respectful and sober way, but clearly grouped together as a new layer of changes added to the others accumulated in the enclosure. The light of different qualities and intensities, grouped in lower, upper, direct and indirect bands, background and entrance, has allowed us to build with a single space ‘ten different Trinitarian churches’.
By way of a script, we mention the following actions:
- Introduction of a series of white gargoyles along the cornice, fitting wind mechanisms, lighting and sound pre-installation, at the same time making the proportion of the interior space more slender, slimming it in height and prolonging it with the reflection of the floor.
- Painting of the cornice up to the ceiling in white and the rest in a neutral green, leaving small reserves of time (remains of burgundy paint, black ash on the walls, white lines reminiscent of some of the backdrop) as well as the religious paintings of the apse and the side naves.
- Laying of a 1x3m iron sheet flooring with a 1.5 mm joint along the entire surface, transforming into a bench, hiding the heating system, when it reaches the side walls. The floor parts are varnished with two-component, highly reflective paint. The benches are satin-finished.
- The installation of a more than 7m high altarpiece in the apse, building a final visual from the entrance, lined with golden sheet metal, folded and perforated, recalling the pipes of the old organ, currently installed in Santa Maria del Mar. In successive phases, a double curtain system, currently pre-installed, will be added.
- The transparency of the new door of the entrance gate, allowing the perspective of the nave to be extended as far as Carrer de Sant Pere, providing a second source of natural light and opening up the heart of the building to the city, as its new uses demand.
