Our Idea of Sacred Area Developed in a Catholic Church

The project is spread over a triangular lot (ca. M2 6000), in the Feltre district of the city of Milan. The chosen lot has two perspectives: it opens to the city, a popular district designed by Gardella, Figini and Pollini, and also to the green, because of the proximity of the Lambro Park. Our project aims to keep the natural conformation of the area as intact as possible, so we placed the church entrance in front of the housing project, and the altar got placed in a group of trees near the Lambro River. Our idea of sacred area developed in a Catholic church that is going to be a simple space of celebration for the small district where it will be built, without any need to accommodate a huge crowd of people.

The shape of the Church is inspired by naval exhibition structures, such as the one created by the oriental architect Shigeru Ban, and the development of the shingle we made has a hut rounded lines, with the decentralized axis. The structure is entirely made up of tubular steels (horizontal, vertical and transverse) that are visible from the interns and covered externally with a slab of darkgrey- treated copper. The horizontal tubular, above the altar, converge in the most symbolic element of the church, the tabernacle, topped with a glass covering to create a significant light point. The church ends with a wall in opposition both to the tubular structure and the stained glass well of light located above the altar. The stained glass window façade is richly decorated with colored, apparently abstracted drawings that show the figure of Christ with his arms open wide to welcome the faithful. The glass is rearward compared to the tubular structure, and this makes the structure apparently coming out to the external and leads a shade on the glass. On the external, the stained glass window façade is dark and opaque and it will show off its colors only if there would be an inner lighting.

On the contrary, the internal nave takes most of the light from this stained glass window, creating a remarkable game of its inner colors, also marked by steel tubular. The paving is made of light grey resin, with abstract lines that divide the sacred zone in three main areas: the altar, the baptistery, the assembly. The altar is placed in the background of the building, raised with steps, and simply furnished with two lecterns, the altar, the tabernacle and the seats for the priest and his servers. The baptistery is on the left and it is raised as the altar; it only has a baptismal font as furniture. Instead, the assembly occupies the space between the altar and the baptistery and it is furnished with small benches.

Depending on the mass celebrated inside the church, the benches can be easily moved to the heart of the sacred function. In the Church there are not strictly defined spaces, but there is an internal mobility that follows the differences of the functions performed within. The interior of the church owes mobility, brightness and functionality. The square in front of the church wants to serve as a place of welcome to the faithful, also keeping its origins as intact as possible; we designed a concrete square connecting the road to the church, flanked by cement benches.