Loading
00
GMP ATELIER RIBO 2024 48
Story

The Rebirth of the Sacré-Cœur

Being reborn to new life. This is, after all, the meaning of the Christian message. And in Geneva, it was a church that was reborn. Destroyed by a fire, which completely gutted it in 2018, the Eglise du Sacré-Cœur was the landmark for the Catholic community in the city that was the cradle of Calvinism. After six years, in June 2024, it returned to house the faithful. Its new life is a new life, as architecture has rethought the spaces in which the community of believers can meet and evolve. We talk about this with architect Christian Rivola, director and founder of atelier ribo+ in Cadenazzo, the studio that conceived and developed the innovative project.

The new Sacré-Cœur is no longer just a place of worship: can the sacred and the profane coexist in architecture?

“The fire of 2018 created extraordinary conditions to ask questions about how to reactivate a building and cultural heritage with in the perspective of tomorrow. The core of the reasoning was a reflection, stimulated by the words of Pope Francis, on how the Church can bring people closer to the sacred. The answer was to open the doors to activities complementary to liturgical ones. Catechism should be seen in its universal value, so we thought of teaching spaces not only for religious topics but for broader comparisons. The festival hall projects the moment of ceremonies, such as baptisms, weddings and funerals, to the conviviality of the afterwards and can also accommodate corporate teams and other groups of people who want to spend time together. From here it came natural to think also of a place to drink and eat that would project outwards, and so the bar-restaurant area became a point of attraction towards the square. The fire became an opportunity to open up new possibilities, a burning to be reborn. In this way, the architecture becomes an ideal setting for complementary activities, and vice versa, becoming dynamic, also thanks to the fact that today, the structure is all active and alive. Whereas in the past, almost half the volume was off and passive.”

 

Is it a replicable model?

“The initial vision, which then became a concrete project, has aroused great interest among the religious, and not only, which I find surprising. There was a great deal of media attention, ever since it became known that a project group had been set up, led by an atelier in Ticino. At Sacré-Cœur, there were special features. The structure built in 1859 was that of a temple, the fire modelled the interior volume, opening the door to a less constrained reconstruction. So the concepts are certainly replicable, but in each situation the pre-existing must be evaluated in order to be able to integrate the renovation in a harmonious way. There are however, similar cases of multifunctional churches: in Basel a literary café is housed, in Cambridge an exhibition hall. The topic is highly topical, as there is an ecclesiastical heritage to be protected but also to be revitalised. In the case of Sacré-Cœur, there was also the availability of an adequate budget: 25.5 million francs thanks to insurance funding and donations from foundations and many private individuals. However, we thought of a structure model that would also be economically sustainable over time, guaranteeing a property income from some of the functions present, so as to eliminate dependence on the financial support of the religious.”

 

From a design point of view, what were the elements you focused on?

“The façade had remained almost intact. Therefore, on the outer perimeter we worked in a conservative and enhancing manner. On the inside, we worked on the relationship between heaven and earth, on the relationship between man and spirituality. We worked on natural light with glass windows set into the roof. It was a project that involved, in particular, in addition the architects of ribo+ Sara Anzi and Simone Izzo. In this way, the building is sculpted from above by light, which in its path of reflection animates the interior with new life. For the materials, we have chosen to use traditional materials, such as stone, wood, plaster, to give a sense of naturalness but also refinement. The marbles come from Carrara and are grey, white and yellow, inspired by the colours of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.”  

 

Why were you chosen? Why did they turn to a Ticino firm from Geneva?

“We were called in February 2020, at the time the famous Parisian architect Jean Marie Duthilleul, called in as a consultant, had given some guidelines in favour of the organisation of the church space, thanks to the conception of a new liturgical axis where the interaction between religious was completely rethought. From that input we started working intensively. I think the choice fell on us for two main reasons. The first is that in Bulle, in the canton of Fribourg, we conceived the reconversion of the Halle Landi, a pavilion from the 1939 Universal Exhibition in Zurich, which was then moved to Bulle and used for many years by the army. Now it has become a landmark and meeting point for the new Jardins de la Pâla neighbourhood. The other reason I think is the fact that Ticino is a predominantly Catholic canton; therefore, it has a long tradition of building churches, a tradition revived by a master of contemporary architecture, even of the sacred, like Mario Botta.”

 

What do you take home from this experience?

“I remember with emotion the first visit to the building, we arrived on the roof. Sounds of the city in the distance, birds flying and the absence of human life. I thought: this is a break in the building’s history. Then, at an advanced stage of the project, I remember the great enthusiasm I perceived in the Geneva community. Architecture cannot disregard aesthetics, but it makes sense if it can create the optimum conditions for society and the environment to develop in balance. Le Sacré-Cœur wants to be a source of energy for changing the way we experience relationships in cities. Because I believe that all architecture carries with it the idea of the sacred.

Geneva’s Sacré-Cœur is beating to a new rhythm, following the time of the future, playing the harmony of hope, listening to the voices of the community.”

Christian Rivola

Year of birth: 1973

Profession: Architect

After graduating from Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana di Lugano, he obtained a Master of Architecture at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles. In 1998, together with Omar Bontà he founded the studio “ribo architecture” in Monteceneri (TI). After Bontà’s departure, the studio evolved in 2016 into the atelier “ribo+” (www.ribo.swiss) in Cadenazzo, with branches in French-speaking Switzerland and in Portugal, in the Douro region.

MG 1714

Le Sacré-Cœur wants to be a source of energy for changing the way we experience relationships in cities.