The Church of the Resurrection by Álvaro Siza stands next to an artificial pool of water in the centre of the district. The site, only 400 m² in area, is flanked on three sides by four- to five-storey housing blocks. The architect has responded to the somewhat unusual urban situation with a sculptural volume in white concrete that is largely closed externally. The modest main entrance gives on to a forecourt with a free-standing campanile. Internally, the spaces are set on top of each other: the community hall and administration are on the ground floor; the church space, which can accommodate 126 worshippers, is on the first-floor; and the small vestry is on the level above. The complex form of the building is the outcome of two interlocking volumes: a cylinder with an outer diameter of 14.74 m and a cube 16 × 16 m on plan. Both volumes are 12 m high. Extending from the western entrance front of the central structure are two closed tower-like elements containing staircases; and from the eastern face projects a semicircular apse.
The concrete outer walls were poured to their full height in a single working process, so that the building has only vertical concrete joints and no horizontal ones. Legible in the white surfaces of the sharp-edged cube is the jointing pattern of the formwork panels, the exact positions of which were specified by Álvaro Siza. Over large areas, he opted for vertical panels one metre wide and three metres high with two central distance pieces.
The nave on the upper floor is a combination of central and directional space. Despite what the external structure might lead one to believe, the central axis of this space is set on the diagonal, from the main staircase in the south-west corner to the cross in the north-east side chapel. The apse contains a statue of the Virgin Mary and the tabernacle, while in the chapel to the south-east is the baptismal font. A slightly raised oak platform separates the area behind the altar from the remaining church space, which, like the public realms on the ground floor, was finished with brushed marble flooring. Daylight enters the church indirectly from above, where a suspended square soffit platform conceals not only the central glass roof light, but also the air outlets.
The electric lighting is situated on top of this element as well. Four other roof lights - much smaller in size - bathe the statue of the Virgin, the baptismal chapel and the two access staircases in natural light.
