Jubilee Church
To introduce this architectonic masterpiece we need to understand the context: Now it’s 2003, and we’re in a small village in Italy, Tor Tre Teste. A contest is summoned in order to give this small village vitality and also to promote some tourism. In this competition some well recognized architects such as Calatrava, Peter Eisenmann, Tadao Ando, etc. Meier became winner with this idea. It represented a new way to see churches, with a modern taste but including his characteristic minimalism and color white.
Meier with this work wanted to show his intelligent use of the geometry, clarity, the economical use of light, and the whiteness and purity that he always uses in this Christian Church as a symbol of respect and equality among everyone since he was Jewish. The building itself it’s separated in two subfunctions: the church and a parish center which includes all the offices, an auditorium and multiple use rooms. All the structure sums up to around 10071,9902 square meters of flooring, but the real deal are the 3 fractions of concentric spheres. The use of this sphere built walls is partially symbolic and partially logistic. The first place symbolically represents a ship, where all the believers navigate beside the word of God. But on the other hand, this structure allows a lot of natural illumination to come through the clear ceiling and walls, and the concrete part prevents water floods.
– An interesting fact is that in order to make this structure work and for it to last Meier and a colleague of him designed a structure with the shape of precasted blocks one on top of the other. This way it creates a resistant curved wall.
– Meier is mostly known for his use of the pure white in his buildings. The challenge in this particular design was for it to last long enough with its pure white. As a solution for that, he came up with the idea of a new concrete made of titanium dioxide.
– The main facade of the church contains 5 iron bells, one on top of the other, and each one represents one of the continents of the Earth. This was important to do because of the message that Meier wanted to transmit: all people of the world should be taken in consideration as one and with equality.
Bibliography:
https://www.arquitecturaydiseno.es/creadores/richard-meier
https://megaconstrucciones.net/?construccion=iglesia-del-jubileo
http://moleskinearquitectonico.blogspot.com/2007/03/la-iglesia-del-jubileo-roma.html