Structural prelimiary, final and construction design, architectural design.
Country: Italy
Year: 2009
MAIN CLIENT
Vicariato di Roma
Contract by EDIN s.r.l.
Technical director Marcello Colasanti
The plan of the church of S. Pio is drawn by a rectangle of 2×1 proportions.
The altar is placed in the center of the longest side of the rectangle, while the entrance is located on the opposite wall, even if moved slightly to the east. This position of the altar, unusual in longitudinal-plan churches, is in harmony with the liturgical wishes that emerged from the Second Vatican Council, for which the whole of the faithful constitutes a “community” and consequently it is necessary for it to benefit from a spatial form suitable for gathering around “his Shepherd” without particular hierarchies of position, which is impossible with the traditional positioning of the altar on the short side in longitudinal-plan churches. The elevation of the Church is defined by curves that are drawn on vertical planes located at the major sides of the base triangle; in particular, on the south side three curves are drawn in continuity but different from each other, while on the opposite one there is the trace of a single curvilinear sign; the striped surface that unites all of these curves constitutes the covering of the liturgical hall. Without referring to rhetorical theological references, it is easy to identify the great symbolic force that arises from the complexity of this geometry.
