Jubilee Church – 16.4.2010

As the millennium was approaching the church decided to commission a few brand news churches. Richard Meier designed one that now stands in a suburban area of Rome. We drove up to see three huge white sails in the beautiful clear blue sky. We stood outside in an empty irregular shaped piazza to take our full frontal pictures. As we approached the entrance we were almost blinded by the reflectance of all the white surfaces. Our eyes could finally open to get a squint free view of the church because it was designed to not have any direct light invade. My favorite feature of the church was part of what I saw first. A white square box extruded out from a smaller one suspended in the air with three cut outs on the side allowing bouncing light to light it up framing the Crucifix. That one element touched my heart gently because I was able to feel the presence of the Trinity in a simply and elegant way. It was one unforgettable experience and hit the top of my list for best modern churches I have seen. As we began to leave through the piazza again, I was delighted to see it was being used by the local parents and kids. It was obvious that school just let out as parents socialized with each other as the kids ate snacks and ran around playing kid games as we pulled out of the parking lot in our big pink bus.