In Arnedo, a municipality in Spain’s La Rioja region, the church of the Monastery of Our Lady of Vico – inhabited by nuns of the Cistercian Order – was refurbished on the basis of a project drawn up by the local practice of Ramón Ruiz Marrodán. The intervention involved partly covering the building as well as recovering the lost crypt. The temple was built in the 16th century and enlarged early in the 18th. An earthquake caused serious damage on it in 1755, opening up cracks that were never dealt with, and lack of maintenance brought down the roof in 1962, burying the crypt. 

To protect the church and prevent further deterioration, a roof of sandwich panels was installed, along with a composite slab made of four large H-beams, which serves as flooring for the church and as a gray-painted ceiling for the crypt beneath. The operation simply involved remedying damages and ensuring structural stability. In addition, the space is more clearly defined through lighting and a concrete pavement.