Portfolyo/Portfolio: MDU Architetti
The design of the Church Complex of the
Visitation Parish is part of new logic based on
the metaphoric approach to architectural form
intended to provide the community of Galciana a
new place of worship in a contemporary setting.
The design for the Church of the Visitation for
the town of Galciana proposes a new building
based on the merger of Catholic theology and
architecture. The new project consists of a series
of volumes whose shapes have as their principal
objective the translation through architecture of
references to theological and pastoral aspects of
Catholicism. Specifically the architecture uses the
ideas behind a specific story from the Bible, the
Visitation, when the Virgin Mary visited her cousin
St. Elizabeth when they were pregnant with Jesus
and John the Baptist. The architecture of the
new church of Galciana is based on the concept
of a meeting place for special circumstances in a
monumental but inviting structure whose character
is determined by abstract shapes and local Tuscan
materials with a prominent use of travertine.
The design for the new church of Galciana aims to
translate these concepts into architecture through
a metaphoric organization of space. The church
comprises the merger of two spaces, an education
area and the main liturgical space organized in
one large volume around the concept of meeting.
These two volumes are arranged in an overall
plan that embraces the adjoining urban setting to
convey a sense of the availability of the Church to
the community. And finally the monumentality of
the church with it prominent tower makes it a point
of reference signifying its willingness to receive
anyone who wishes to take part in its activities.
From the point of view of the natural setting,
the whole complex was thought of as a work of
architecture surrounded by nature that is curved
in plan to emphasize the sense of embracing
not only the entire park area in front of it but the
surrounding countryside as well. As a monumental
structure in nature its highly visual presence is
intended to celebrate the area and the territory,
elevating it through the metaphoric aspects of its
architecture. Through this architecture the modern
Church of the Visitation seeks to create a special
place to attract people in an inviting and visually
dramatic appearance. The design is intended to
emphasize the theme of meeting that becomes the
starting point for developing the symbolic meaning
of the institution in the local setting in which it
is inserted in the two way relationship where the
church accepts and is accepted by the community.
These metaphoric design strategies can also be
seen in the forms and materials of the church. The
architecture is characterized by triangular shapes
100 NATURA • OCAK - ŞUBAT 2014 / JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2014