The Jubilee Church is the jewel in the crown of the Vicariato di Roma’s (Archdiocese of Rome) Millennium Project. Formally known as Dio Padre Misericordioso, it is the 50^th new church and community center built in the suburbs of Rome. The Jubilee Church has been conceived as a new center for a somewhat isolated housing quarter in the Tor Tre Teste area, located outside central Rome and intended to revitalize a decaying residential fabric. The triangular site is articulating three concepts: first, dividing the sacred realm to the south, where the nave is located from the secular precinct to the north. Second, separating the approach on foot from the housing situated in the east. Third, again separating the approach on foot, from the parking lot situated to the west.

Sited at a point where the adjacent apartment buildings fan out, the church and the community center are centrally located towards the eastern side of the area of the site. Both components are accessible from the east via a paved entrance plaza (sagrato), which is situated on the side of the site nearest the effective center of the housing estate, adjacent to a proposed greensward in front of the sagrato. The church and the community center provide a social and cultural focus, serving more than 8,000 residents in the immediate vicinity and members of the larger Tor Tre Teste community center with the balance of the irregular site including a terrace with Roman pines to the northeast, a recreation court to the northwest, and a parking area to the west.

(more…)

The Camden Medical Center is placed on a busy intersection on the western edge of Singapore. Surrounded by tropical landscaping and views of the city’s Botanical Garden, the cylindrical building’s design was minimized to allow the greenery to extend through and below the building, creating an outdoor lobby. The 18-storey building was designed to facilitate medical suites and offices with retail space on the ground floor. The white-panelled structure presented in a systematic grid is one of Richard Meier’s signature design elements.

Because of the location on the equator, care had to be taken to provide solar protection to both the north and south sides of the building, and a layered facade, combined with integrated sunscreens and structural brise-soleil, was used. This facade also provides the development with an element at a more human scale while being sympathetic to the residential towers to the east and southeast of the site. The circular plan of Camden Medical Center is subdivided orthogonally, and the cylinder is serviced by a rectangular core.

(more…)