richard meier - church, rome, italy

Richard Meier’s Rome church is one eventoriginally planned to mark the celebrationsof the Jubilee of AD 2000. This was initiatedby the Pope in 1994 when he called for aSpecial Consistory to prepare for the GreatJubilee at the starting point of the thirdmillennium involving the Catholic world as awhole. Meier’s project is the 50th church tobe inaugurated in the Vatican’s MillenniumProject. Each church has a community centreand they are built in various parish districtsthroughout Rome.

The Jubilee Church commission was theresult of an international competition, andthe Vatican’s shortlist included Meier, Gehry,Behnisch, Calatrava, Eisenman and Ando.The award of the project to Meier wascontroversial from the outset, in that Meieras a Jew would be working with the foremostCatholic client – the Vatican itself. However,the relationship and the resultant complexare a triumph of this collaboration, and

entirely successful in architecture ofoutstanding optimism.

The church, named Dio PadreMisericordioso (God our Merciful Father) byPope John Paul II, was consecrated andinaugurated on 26 October 2003 by CardinalCamillo Ruini in a four-hour service ofcelebration, music and ritual. This wasattended by a huge congregation both withinthe church itself and externally on thechurch piazza.

The church is in an ordinary 1970s 10-storey housing quarter at Tor Tre Teste,a suburb at some distance from the centre ofthe city. Taken together, church andcommunity centre form a spectacular newfocus in an otherwise low-key suburbanenvironment, and define both a religiousprecinct and a heartening sense of place.Meier has said that ‘… expression ofaspiration, hope and belief, as well asopenness and transparency are all aspects of

the ideas behind the design of this church’. Itis a wonderful gift to the whole communityof more than 25 000 people.

The fan-shaped site is approached directlyfrom the east across a travertine pavedentrance piazza (sagrato), which extends as abase to the church on the south and west ofthe precinct. The entrance is marked byseveral external features including a silvercross, and a campanile with exposed bells –the tower marking out both the church tothe south and the community centre to thenorth. The generous entrance hall, definedby a travertine screen wall, is partly enclosedwithin by a raised organ loft. Once in thenave, the main altar is immediately visible atthe west end. Although unconventional, thisposition is a logical result of the frontaleastern entrance.

Plan-form and section are extremely clear.Three circles of equal radius create threeconcrete shells to the south and togetherwith a thick spine wall to the north, the mainspace of the church nave is contained. In acontrasting, plain L plan around a sunkencourtyard, is the community centre, on fourlevels. The centre is separated from the mainchurch by a linear top-lit atrium.

The plan of the church is essentiallytraditional with nave, altar, side chapel andconfessional booths. Introduction of thethree shells transforms the project andimplies the Holy Trinity. Natural light is themajor theme, with skylights between eachshell and over the main space, creating everchanging patterns within. Meier has referredto this as ‘… a luminous spatial experience… the rays of sunlight serve as a mysticmetaphor of the presence of God’.

Curving in both plan and in section, thethree shell wall planes are the real tour deforce in the whole project. They aresweeping vertical cantilevers formed withpanels of beautiful white concrete with afinish so fine that it resembles marble.Meier’s description of the engineering effort involved in erecting the shells as

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CHURCH, ROME, ITALY

ARCHITECT

RICHARD MEIER

INSTRUMENT OF LIGHTRichard Meier’s long awaited church in Rome isa beautifully honed giver and receiver of light.

site plan

1In a nondescript suburb of Rome, thechurch is a glowing beacon composedof overlapping, shell-like forms.2Main east entrance. The concreteshells are anchored by a spine wall.

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cross section

1 meeting room 2 courtyard3 community centre4 main (east) entrance5 campanile6 nave7 altar8 side chapel9 confessionals

10 organ loft11 priest’s offices12 pastoral residence13 kitchen14 bedrooms

ground floor plan (scale approx 1:500)

first floor

longitudinal section

second floor

3The calm, luminous interior. Thelimited palette of materials (whiteconcrete, travertine and timber) andstudied absence of ornamentationenhances the air of serenity. 3

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‘Herculean’, underlines the task involved in the achievement of the cantilevers. (They are prefabricated post-tensionedconcrete panels.)

The three shells, or arcs, form a massiveinstrument of light – the most monumentalgesture of Meier’s whole repertoire – andembody the sacred space at the heart of thechurch. In contemplating the design, Meierhas referred to both Le Corbusier atRonchamp and especially to Aalto and theChurch of the Three Crosses in Finland.Aalto’s church at Riola, near Bologna, cameto mind in visiting the Jubilee Church.

The interior space and materiality of themain nave and side-chapel are serene andbeautifully crafted. The limited range ofmaterials – travertine, white concrete andlight wood – predominates and there iscurrently an absence of any decoration. Thewhite concrete shells contrast with thetravertine and slatted wood of the spine wall;otherwise the nave is occupied only by thesimple ranges of wooden pews. The whitestucco organ loft with its silver clusters ofpipes, and the sculpted white altar, formcounterpoints at the two ends.

The altar plinths and furniture are allformed in the same travertine as the navefloor. Each element of the furniture isexemplary, and some items such as thecasket for communion wafers (a gold box inthe side chapel) are quite exquisite. The onlyconcession to tradition is a nineteenth-century cross above the main altar.

At night, the whole church is a giver oflight to the outer world and again the threeshells, and the transparent ends of thechurch, give a spectacular signal of a sacredentity within the community.

The community centre has its mainapproach from the eastern church sagrato

through the central linear atrium. Secondaryentrances are provided from two courtyards.The basement holds the major meeting hall(Sale di Riunione) adjacent to the sunkencourtyard. Both courts are intended forstaging community events associated withthe church.

Upper levels include the parish priest’soffices and catechism rooms. The secondfloor houses the pastor’s residence and thekitchen. The residence incorporates asplendid living room with a raised ceiling andtop light, and includes a brick hearth andfireplace. It has fine views of the parish:housing and the community at large.

The western half of the site includesdiscreetly placed parking and a landscapedarea, within rising walled ground, plantedwith olive trees. The whole of the secularprecinct and the community centre is inwhite stucco, with the north elevationenlivened by balconies. The minimal natureof the centre is an appropriate contrast tothe exuberance of the main church.

Although this is Meier’s first church, theparti of the plan and section are uniquewithin his work, and the beautiful whiteprecast concrete walls of the shells aresounding success in the use of materialsand structure. This church is truly part of thetwenty-first century – a new landmark andplace of pilgrimage for the faithful.

IVOR RICHARDS

ArchitectRichard Meier & Partners, New YorkStructural engineersOve Arup and Partners, ItalcementiMechanical engineersOve Arup and Partners, Luigi Dell’AquilaLighting consultantsFMRS, ErcoPhotographsEdmund Sumner/VIEW

CHURCH, ROME, ITALY

ARCHITECT

RICHARD MEIER

4Detail of organ loft.5Both literally and metaphorically,the church is a giver and receiverof light.

origin of plan geometry axonometric projection

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