A few weeks ago, we featured Andrea Maffei Architects’ entry to the Redemptoris Mater Church competition to design a new church complex in Cinisi, Italy. Now, Tomas Ghisellini Architects has unveiled their entry, titled Living Stones, which gets its shape from a series of steles that surround the complex.
Living Stones is conceptually made up of “a large family of wiry stems, like a cloud of souls, a crowd of people huddled together,” that aggregate around a center core, the body of the church. These stems are not only aesthetic, but also serve practical purposes, as “chimneys, support to luminaries and radio, fixing for suspended canopies or mobile scenarios, exposition of Christian symbols, furnishing for the open air spaces, [and] microclimate control tools.”
Between the stems, a small village of buildings house classrooms, a mini guesthouse, and the parish hall, all of which are connected by various common spaces.
Between the church and other buildings, a long garden is symbolic of the Garden of Gethsemane, with scattered olive trees representing the Passion of Christ.
Learn more about the project here.
Architects
Location
Cinisi PA, ItalyArchitect in Charge
Tomas GhiselliniDesign Team
Alice MarzolaCollaborators
Lucrezia Alemanno, Andrea Andreotti, Nicola Cataldo, Alessio OrlandoClient
CEI-Conferenza Episcopale Italiana, Arcidiocesi di MonrealeArea
8755.0 sqmProject Year
2015Photographs
Courtesy of Tomas Ghisellini ArchitectsLocation
Cinisi PA, ItalyProject Year
2015Photographs
Area
8755.0 m2
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