Sunset Chapel / BNKR

Architects: BNKR / Bunker Arquitectura
Area: 120 m²
Year: 2011
Photography: Esteban Suárez
City: Acapulco
Country: Mexico

Sunset Chapel, designed by BNKR Arquitectura in Acapulco, Mexico, contrasts life and death through its material choices and architectural form. Completed in 2011, the chapel is strategically elevated to offer unobstructed views, particularly aligning with the equinox sunsets. Its design mimics a boulder that blends seamlessly into the surrounding granite landscape. The project includes crypts encircling the chapel, symbolizing the cycle of life, death, and spirituality.

As BNKR Arquitectura’s second religious project, Sunset Chapel was conceived with a focus on mourning, contrasting their earlier wedding chapel, which celebrated new beginnings. The architects emphasized duality in the design, using contrasting materials and forms: concrete versus glass, heaviness versus lightness, solidity versus transparency. The chapel juxtaposes classical proportions with chaotic elements, representing the ephemeral nature of life against the permanence of death.

The client requested the chapel offer breathtaking views and align with the setting sun behind the altar cross, a phenomenon occurring during the equinoxes. A series of crypts were also required to be placed around the chapel.

To avoid obstructing the view of the sunset, particularly due to large trees and massive boulder, the chapel was elevated by five meters. Blasting the rock was not an option due to ethical, environmental, and financial concerns. Consequently, the design minimized its environmental footprint, reducing the building’s area on the lower level by half.

The hills of Acapulco are composed of large granite rocks, and the architects aimed for the chapel to chapel to blend in, resembling one of the surrounding boulders atop the mountain.