078 FOCUS


Right The billowing white drapes that hang from the church’s ceiling offer a religious elegance within the space


Below The church’s


cruciform light display is as a result of natural light hitting the unique architecture


AT FIRST GLANCE, it is hard not to draw a parallel with Tadao Ando’s Church of the Light near Osaka, Japan. But while the focus of Ando’s cross is from the interior, at the Church of Santa Maria Goretti in Italy it is viewed most powerfully from the outside. And while Ando’s effect is achieved through the daylight that seeps through a glazed extrusion, here the architecture folds on itself to create the cruciform effect, delineated with artificial light.


Te church has a four-leafed clover plan and form. It is entered through a tall incision made in one of its four white concrete apses, the entrance forming a tall external cross that, lit at night, becomes a beacon. Te interior is lit by a soft light from above, diffused through folds of translucent fabric hung in the form of curvaceous, diaphanous drapes from the 16m-high ceiling.


Tere is an additional and powerful use of natural light that recalls prehistoric monuments such as that of Newgrange in Ireland. In addition to the constant play of daylight created by the veils hanging from the ceiling, on one day in the year – 6 July, the Feast of Saint Maria Goretti – a beam of sunlight shines directly on the crucifix set on the wall behind the altar.


Church of Santa Maria Goretti


Mormanno, Cosenza, Italy


CREDITS Architect


Mario Cucinella Architects


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