The Design of the New Mexico Missions...
The construction of the New Mexico
missions was an adaptation of European systems, which depended
upon arches and domes, to primitive systems of beams, lintels,
and limited building materials.
The missions of New Mexico clearly
take a different direction in their design and construction than
the earlier churches of Mexico. The fortress-like church of Mexico
has buttresses to counter the thrust of the rib vaults spanning
the church's interior. It also has extensive wall fenestration,
a lateral doorway opening into the nave, and a dome which lets
light into the interior from any direction. All of these features
break up the mass and give a sense of openness to the interior
of the church.
In the New Mexico church all of these
elements have been eliminated or subdued. Because of the use
of simple materials and the use of wood beams to span the nave,
the mass has been changed to simple monolithic planes. The walls
have been thickened to replace the buttressed walls of the Mexican
church. The introduction of a transept adds supplementary masses
to the block of the nave and sanctuary; but, more important,
the break in the roof plane at this point resulted in the development
of the transverse clearstory window. The missions of New Mexico
have few windows and therefore contrast sharply with the open
space of the churches of Mexico.
There also seems to be many irregularities
in the plans and sections of the New Mexico missions which draw
the eye to the sanctuary. In most cases the walls, floor, and
roof converge as they near the sanctuary. |
