La Estancia Chapel

Text description provided by the architects. La Estancia Wedding Gardens was built in traditional Mexican Baroque style. When one of Bunker's employees decided to get married here, we learned that the owners had been toying with the idea of building a chapel in the style of their gardens for some time, as all previous weddings had taken place under a light tent roof. They found the idea of having an architect design the chapel where they would get married very romantic, and so we were commissioned.

The client's specifications were quite simple: a brick chapel in colonial style that would blend in with the surrounding architecture. This posed a major challenge for us... Firstly, we didn't believe in styles, and secondly, it would have been a shame to seal off the chapel from the beautiful garden. So we decided to do the opposite: an open glass chapel that contrasts with its surroundings. When we finally managed to convince the clients of our design, we realised we had a big problem: the wedding was due to take place in four months!

The location for the chapel was carefully selected from a huge area of lush vegetation. We chose a spot where none of the existing plants or trees had to be removed, under large jacaranda trees that form a natural arch over the chapel and provide ample shade. We made every effort to minimise the impact on the site.