NEW PARISH COMPLEX OF SANTA BARBARA IN LICATA

FREE-FORM CONCRETE / COMPLEX GEOMETRY

Project Information

The new parish complex of Santa Barbara in Licata (Sicily) is the winning proposal of the two-stage competition launched by the Curia of Agrigento. The original structure proposed at the competition stage was a concrete envelope, made with free-form reinforced concrete surfaces.

Location

Licata, Italy

Client

Curia of Agrigento

Architect

Francesco Lipari / Lillo Giglia / Giuseppe Conti

Collaborators

-

Project period

2016 - 2022

Area

Approx. 2500m2

Status

Under construction

Project type

Church

Project Description

The project is a new contemporary church building, with an extremely complex free-form geometry. As described by the architect, “as building volumes are directly connected to outdoor spaces, the compound may be seen as a self-sufficient urban microcosm: a campus devoted to faith, deeply connected to the local community and its history, a place to be experienced in its markedly spiritual, artistic, and ritual nature. The project is based on a contemporary territorial and anthropological research focusing on the creation of solid, structured communities open to the eyes of the beholder and to the outside world. The Greek-cross building layout alternating convex and linear spaces derive from the historical development of church archetypes.”

Degree of Freedom has supported the architect throughout the entire competition phase, providing all the necessary structural calculations to solve the geometrical/static challenges of the project. An in-depth evaluation of the concrete design of the roof and walls has been performed with a state-of-the art FEM analysis.

Service Provided

Structural engineering during architectural competition, concept, and preliminary design.

Images: Francesco Lipari / Lillo Giglia / Giuseppe Conti