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.

The western side of the church site is laid out as two courts separated from each other by a paved causeway running east-west between the community center to the north and the church to the south. The northern most court contains a recreational garden with a paved terrace adjacent to the community center. The second court, which contains a reflecting pool, is intended as a meditation space. The proportional structure of both the church and the precinct is predicated on a displaced square and four circles. Three circles of equal radius generate the profiles of the three shells that, together with the spine-wall, make up the body of the nave. While the three shells discretely imply the Holy Trinity, the reflecting pool symbolizes water in the ritual of Baptism. Diminutive, recessed thresholds between the shells afford independent access to the chapel and the baptistery. The sagrato is conceived as an open plaza framed by grassy areas with benches and trees. At the eastern front the sagrato and the portico jointly announce the welcome that the church offers to the community.

The perceptual volume of the church is directly influenced by natural light since the zenith light and the glazed skylights between the successive shells are continually responsive to the changing pattern of light and shadow as the sun moves across its trajectory. According to the season, the weather, and the time of day, light is variously graduated down the inner surface of the shells thereby imparting to the church, the chapel and the baptismal fount a particular character.

The community center and adjacent courts occupy the entire northern half of the site. The L-shaped building is linked to the northern side of the church by bridges to the atrium, sanctuary, organ loft, and sacristy. A top-lit foyer connects the priest’s office and meeting rooms on the ground floor to the catechism classrooms and auditorium on the second floor. The main access to the community center from the church sagrato is through an east-west atrium, an interstitial space between the two structures. The courts are designed to accommodate a broad range of informal and formal communal assemblies. The recreational court may be used by gatherings of adults or by children at play, while the enclosed lower court can function as a setting for the blessing of palms or for the formation of the various processional assemblies that are an integral part of the annual church ritual. The basement holds the meeting hall (Sale di Riunione), lavatories and a paved court. The ground floor houses the Parish Priest Offices and catechism rooms and lavatories and includes a terrace. The first floor contains additional catechism rooms and lavatories, and the second floor houses the Pastor’s residence and the kitchen.

Of particular note are the large curved walls on the south perimeter of the church. These three walls vary in height and are, in effect, segments of a sphere. These three walls vary in height and are, in effect, segments of a sphere. Each shell is built of pre-cast concrete segments, post-tensioned in situ; by virtue of the curvature in plan, each is independently supported. Wind load resistance is developed through a vertical cantilever effect acting acoss the full depth of the curved section. These curved walls are composed of inner and outer shells, linked by a diaphragm. The inner cavity is filled with Styrofoam in order to assure adequate insulation, while maintaining the rigidity of the structure with the lowest possible weight.

The acoustical design of the church is based upon meeting the need for intelligible speech for preaching, readings, and announcements and providing a reverberant volume for congregational singing, liturgical choir, and both instrumental and organ sound. This has been achieved by providing a sound reinforcement system suitable for a large, highly reverberant space of worship. The large volume and the hard concrete, stone, and glass surfaces support a live, rich sound from the choir and particularly the organ. Acoustic paneling and stone on the north wall of the nave eliminates flutter, as does the cleft surface of the stone cladding on the convex wall.

Energy consumption is greatly reduced by a number of features that have been specifically designed to limit the thermal peak loads inside the space. The large thermal mass of the concrete walls effectively moderates the internal heat gain. By balancing the peaks and troughs in the daily temperature variation, it eliminates the need for mechanical air conditioning inside the nave and the chapel and reduces the use of the heating system in the winter.

The building is naturally ventilated in both the nave and the chapel. Fresh air is introduced through intake louvers in the upper part of the northern wall of the church and transmitted at a low velocity through an acoustically lined shaft. The thermal stack effect promotes upward air movement, naturally drawing air through the space via fresh air inlets at low level, and discharging exhaust air at the upper part of the volume. Overhanging concave walls at the south perimeter of the building shade the glazed parts of the roof and walls, shielding the interior from direct sunlight.

The Jubilee Church combines modern formalism with a respect for historical integrity, thus transforming the traditional house of worship.

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