2003 – Church Dio Padre Misericordioso, Rome, Italy

A dramatic church and community center surrounded by 1970s apartment blocks, this was the winner in an invited competition against the likes of Tadao Ando, Santiago Calatrava, Peter Eisenman and Frank Gehry. Meier describes it: “Light is the protagonist of our understanding and reading of space. Light is the means by which we are able to experience what we call sacred. Light is at the origins of this building… In the Jubilee Church, the three concrete shells define an enveloping atmosphere in which the light from the skylights above creates a luminous spatial experience, and the rays of sunlight serve as a mystical metaphor of the presence of God… Transparency and light cascade down from the skylit roof, literally invading the interior of the church also penetrating from below through a narrow slot opened at floor level. People in the atrium are enveloped with mystical light.”