Design Uses Precast to Create Light and Air Filled Space

One of the most unique precast structures to be built in recent memory is the Jubilee Church in Rome. Architect Richard Meier created a structure that defies the weight and substance that is most often associated with concrete, and instead took the products ability to conform to new shapes to create a building that floats with lightness and swims in sunlight.

The precast concrete is a curved cantilever of dramatic shells which arc in graduated heights from 56 to 88 feet. The walls were formed in segments of spheres. The designer also used the concrete walls to help minimize the thermal peak loads inside the building. The large thermal mass of the concrete walls help control internal heat gain. The walls also contain titanium dioxide to keep the appearance of the church white.