Curch at Malpensa Airport , Milan, Italy
1997-98

Project
1997-98

Location
Malpensa Airport 2000, Milan

Commissioned by
Airport facilities services, Milano-Linate


The church is imagined as an autonomous presence detached from the sprawling airport and accessible from the departures level via a walkway connecting it to the existing ramp, set 14 metres above the ground level. The church, which has a trilobate plan, presents a unique appearance from the exterior (a stone flower) with three half-cylinders set around a central space and rising to a height of about 30 metres from the ground. The intention is to offer a “special place” for silence and meditation, and a place of prayer for the faithful in an airport structure designed as a place of transit. The church, conceived as an architectural form detached from the airport, confirms its independence from the airport facilities and is distinguished by the use of a single material (red Asiago stone) and powerful interior overhead lighting that sculpts space to help the visitor feel that he or she is the central focus. The interior ecumenical space is arranged around a central triangle with the pews, with two half-cylinders (the third one is reserved for vertical interaction) that are inundated with light flooding in from above: each one is devoted to separate celebrations, one as the “place of the word” (with the ambo and the Bible) and the other as the “place of sacrifice” (with the altar). Thus, even within this unity of space the visitor can focus on either of these functions. The semicircular spaces around them draw the visitor’s eye towards the glass roofing, which establishes a relationship with the sky. The wall treatment, with stringcourses in red stone, instead accentuates the ascending aspect of the masonry, which is interrupted at floor level by a series of openings with views of the square below. Despite its small size (the plan covers just over 300 square metres), the airport chapel attempts to offer a particular spatial experience: a pause in the hustle and bustle of the airport.