317 Iglesia de la Natividad

Church architecture in Mexico shows great diversity from the early settlement churches in the northwest to the Baroque cathedrals of the 16th and 17th centuries.

The site of the new cathedral is a landfill hill 10 meters (ca.33 ft.) in height directly opposite the main entrance to the new settlement that is planned to the south of Culiacán.

Early volumetric sketches and models include the hill. The second version is detailed.

The volume, in the shape of a cross, becomes an artificial extension of the hill.

Elaboration of the cross shape as a vertical, largely open interior: procession-like path from the parking garage in the hill up to the nave of the church with suspended crypt.

The last model that was proposed shows an archaic shape rising out of the hill, with daylight falling through the arms of the cross, through window slits and a skylight. In the nave, monitors replace the conventional images of colorful, stained-glass windows.

The function of the fortress-like building is indicated by the cross cut into the facade. The arms of the cross contain a terrace with a panoramic view; it is accessed from the
meeting rooms.