Church Santo Volto by Mario Botta Architetto, Italy

October 24, 2009 Category: Public Buildings, Religion

The Church Santo Volto was designed by Mario Botta Architetto is located in Turin, Italy. The building has a plan Heptagonal surrounded by seven towers which are connected to the lower bodies of the chapels. Thank you to the apex truncated towers and chapels function as skylights. The choice of heptagonal plan, which coincides with the strong religious and symbolic meaning, directs the focus of the church towards the city.

The parish complex includes all services previously spread throughout the city. Below the church main hall, there is a conference room tomb. Within the other organs of the building, plus offices and apartments there ferial a chapel, rectory and other facilities for training of youth and sport. The linear three-story buildings containing court. On the one hand it recalls visually industrial roots of the square, on the other it supports the cross.

Surrounded by a steel structure with helical thin sheets that thorns reminder, the fireplace lights day and night and the cross is laid on top of its 60 meters. Small bells are inserted into a rectangular frame at the bottom of the chimney into the correspondence with the main entrance. The vacuum created by the lid-shaped pyramid is formed by alternating full and empty Gores revolving around the central drum acting as a pivot. The tower, gutted to work as skylights, are the center of the cylinder suspended while a perimeter, stand on a few pillars.

The architect was also necessary to introduce an element displaying Sindon Christ behind the altar. Working with computers via a binary image formed by the black and white pixels, Mario Botta and his collaborators reshaped the Shroud using tissue stone wise small brick “red Verona” marble have been working with two different forms and so fitted to create a shadow and a flat side to reflect light. The result shows the face of Christ be realized through the effect of oblique light from above.

Church Santo Volto by Mario Botta Architetto in Turin, Italy