Sustainability, costs and reduced times: how Pope Leo XIV’s plan aims to change religious architecture in the suburbs of Rome
During the Italian Episcopal Conference, the Diocese of Rome announced that it had started the New churches program. A desire expressed by Leo XIV himself. With a small detail: the material chosen for construction is wood. The project plans to create five new places of worship in Ostia and the Eternal City. However, they will not fit into the context of the historic centre, but into the peripheral one. In particular, in neighborhoods where, at the moment, there is no “adequate” parish building. The objective is therefore to give the local community a stable place, in which to bring together all the functions that are now located throughout the territory. To carry out such an important task on a social and spiritual level, an «Office for religious buildings of the Vicariate of Rome» was appointed.
The phases of the project
Apparently, i names of the saints to whom the churches are named have already been chosen: Saint Bridget of Sweden in Palmarola, Saint John Nepomuceno Neumann in Montespaccato, Saint Anselm in Cecchignola, Saint Vincent de Paul in Ostia Ponente, and Saint Anna in Morena, which will be expanded.
Particularly important in New churches program it is “the choice of construction technology for future parish complexes, supporting the idea of wooden buildings”, but also “a series of indications and measures from a compositional point of view to help contain construction costs”.
The true protagonists of the project will undoubtedly be those responsible for implementing it in practice: architects, engineers, liturgists and artists. Subsequently, a competition phase is planned aimed at returning the preliminary design. This is followed by the professional assignment for the definitive design and the authorization phase. Finally, the executive planning, aimed at companies specialized in the wooden construction sector.
The choice of wood
The Diocese of Rome explained the reason for the choice of material, which was not entirely usual: “the idea of intrinsically sustainable and advantageous wooden buildings, according to a new concept of architecture”. The material might seem fragile and easily flammable, but “the development particularly in the last two decades of this thousand-year-old technology now allows it to cope with all possible prejudices”. So much so that «we particularly appreciate its advantages such as sustainability, insulating properties, hygroscopicity (it easily absorbs the water vapor present in the surrounding air), resistance and lightness, and fire resistance». The benefits of wood, therefore, are many: «it is a renewable, durable resource; in this specific case, further advantages consist of the possibility of reaching advanced levels of prefabrication and, consequently, more accurate control of costs and construction times”.
