Saviour’s church | Ottavio Di Blasi

Church and parish complex Loseto / Italy / 2000

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4 Love 1,107 Visits Published
The new Saviour’s church is located at the outskirts of Bari. Like in many peripheral neighbourhoods, the urban tissue is decaying; there are neither centre, facilities, social services, stores, nor parks. The idea is that of using the church not only as a religious place, but also as an urban instrument to re-qualify the urban and social tissue. The making of this new church is the opportunity of giving the neighbourhood a place where to identify, a green space and a social centre where young people, even not as “believers”, can meet. In this sense the church becomes a true “urban tool”, interferring with the surroundings and creating a link with the historical memory of the site. From the outside, it appears at first sight as a closed wall with a garden inside. The church is not visible as a volume. It is under the level of the ground at -6,50 meters. The only visible part is the roof, located at the centre of a green “crater” of 90 meter of diameter. The walkway to enter is a pedestrian ramp which descends, in the form of a spiral, slowly from the sidewalk outside to the entrance. The spaces of the parish centre are located against the outside wall, in direct contact with the neighbourhood’s life. The liturgical hall has a circular plan, 28 meters of diameter, and its roof is composed out of a geodetic structure in laminated wood. For the outside stone a typical material of the traditional construction of the region has been used: ”tuff” stone assembled “dry”, meaning just one on to of the other. In spite of its underground position, the church is acoustically regulated and isolated from the urban traffic. Considering energy saving, the building vantages of the strong thermal inertia of the rock, under that is relatively constant all year long. The church is naturally comfortable: well isolated in winter and fresh in summer.
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    The new Saviour’s church is located at the outskirts of Bari. Like in many peripheral neighbourhoods, the urban tissue is decaying; there are neither centre, facilities, social services, stores, nor parks. The idea is that of using the church not only as a religious place, but also as an urban instrument to re-qualify the urban and social tissue. The making of this new church is the opportunity of giving the neighbourhood a place where to identify, a green space and a social centre where young...

    Project details
    • Year 2000
    • Work started in 1992
    • Work finished in 2000
    • Client Arcidiocesi of Bari-Bitonto
    • Cost € 2.100.000 ca.
    • Status Completed works
    • Type Churches
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