Parish church of the Blessed Odorico of Pordenone , Italy
1987-1992

Project
1987

Construction
1990-1992

Location
City of  Pordenone , Italy

Client
Parish church  Beato Odorico da Pordenone

Project Management
arch. Piero Beltrame and Giorgio Raffin

Site                             
3'800 m²

Area church
820 m²

Chapel and services
200 m²

Volume
8'800 m³


The central hall of this building is of a simple, compact arrangement, based on the centrality achieved by inscribing a circle on a square base - a sort of 'squaring of the circle' in reverse, which finds a historical reference in the Paleo-Christian and Romanesque constructions of the first centuries. It is clear from the site plans that the main body of the building functions both as a focal point within a fragmented peripheral structure devoid of any distinctive features, and as a recognisable and easily identifiable reference point. The accentuated distinction between the half, cloistered churchyard, whose form is almost that of a widened, stylised pronaos, and the strong conical mass of the assembly hall proper, permits a gradual distancing from the urban context. It serves as a kind of spatial filter, o a mental filter through which to observe the building. The exterior image, with its uniform, homogeneous surface, is defined entirely by closed rectilinear walls, whose only feature is the convexity of the apse on the side facing the stream. In the same fashion, the mass of the church expresses its own spatial relationship within. The presbytery area, elevated above the body of the church by three fan-shaped steps, is focused upon the altar.