Mario Botta, Hon. FAIA's entry into ecclesiastical architecture was in 1966 when he designed a chapel at the Capuchin Bigorio Monastery in his hometown of Ticino, Switzerland. Throughout his five-decade career, the Swiss architect has designed more than 100 structures that draw inspiration from some of the great modernists like Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, Giovanni Michelucci, and Carlo Scarpa and show a preference for materials including stone, brick, and concrete that is also evident in Botta's other work. While he has designed banks, libraries, museums, and residential structures, religious buildings have been the architect's passion. "Church architecture describes visually the idea of the sacred, which is a fundamental need of man," he said in an interview with Judith Dupre for her book Churches (HarperCollins, 2001).
"Sacral Spaces," at the Ringturm Exhibition Centre in Vienna, examines 22 religious projects that Botta has completed across several countries since that 1966 chapel: 18 built, three on-the-boards, and one proposal. The Ringturm exhibition aims to tell the stories of each project, its commissioner, and its community. According to the press release, Botta believes that only completed works can do this, with exception of the chapel in Milan.
Other projects being featured include the 430-square-foot Garnet Chapel completed in 2013 in Zillertal, Austria. Located on a mountain peak overlooking the Zillertal valley, the chapel is comprised of a timber frame structure clad in weathering steel. Its name comes from the natural dodecahedron shape of garnets, exhibited best in its geometric interior space. A single overhead light source accents different timber batten–clad interior surfaces and walls depending on the time of day.
Material on the Church complex dedicated to Pope John XXIII completed in 2004 in Seriate, Italy, is also on display. The main structure is a 22,604-square-foot cuboid church building flanked by pedestrian arcades that are clad in red Verona marble. Natural light enters the single-space interior through four skylights. The interior walls are clad in polished Verona marble and gold-leafed horizontal wood battens.
Other highlights of the exhibition include the San Giovanni Battista Church completed in 1996 in Mogno, Switzerland; the Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center completed in 1998 in Tel Aviv, Israel; the Cathedral of the Resurrection completed in 1995 in Évry, France; and more.
The exhibition is on display at the Ringturm Exhibition Centre in Vienna through May 31.
