Pittsburgh architects leave mark on Vatican City
In the heart of Rome, behind the walls of Vatican City, can be found the work of some of the greats in art and architecture -- Bernini, Bramante, Michelangelo and Astorino.
If that last one sounds a little more familiar than centuries-old names from art history books, that's because Astorino is the Pittsburgh-based architecture firm that designed such notable local landmarks as Trimont, PNC Firstside Center, UPMC Sports Performance Complex, as well as being the architects of record on PNC Park.
But as prominent as those Pittsburgh projects are, it is of special note that Astorino also has made its mark on the Vatican with its Chapel of the Holy Spirit.
"We were the first American architects ever to do a building in the Vatican," says Louis D. Astorino, the firm's chairman and chief executive officer.
Completed in October 1996, the 3,300-square-foot chapel adjoins the Domus Sanctae Marthae, or St. Martha's House, a new $20 million hotel-like residence behind the Vatican Audience Hall.
Domus Sanctae Marthae was built to house visiting cardinals and bishops, particularly in anticipation of the next conclave in which the 120 voting members of the College of Cardinals will elect a pope.
Construction on that building began in1992 with the help of a fund-raising campaign by another Pittsburgher, John E. Connelly. Connelly agreed to head the Vatican's capital campaign for Domus Sanctae Marthae with the stipulation that Astorino be included as adviser on the project.
Although the firm was not responsible for the architectural design of the five-story structure, it consulted on various aspects of the interior, including furnishings and materials.
One idea was for the bathrooms in the 125 suites, which Astorino suggested should include separate western-style showers and tubs as opposed to the narrow, steep-walled bathtubs with attached showerhead common to European design.
"That was one of the big things. It was unheard of at the time in the Vatican," Astorino says. "Many of the visiting clergy are older, and taking a shower in those narrow (European-style) tubs could have been dangerous."
As the project moved forward, the Vatican decided Astorino should become the architect for a chapel to be built on a modest triangular piece of land that remained between the Domus Sanctae Marthae and the Leonine Wall (the wall that surrounds Vatican City).
Not only were the architects limited by the triangular shape of the site, but the Vatican also requested that the chapel not exceed the height of the Leonine wall or the second-story windows of the hotel, so as not to obscure light or views.
"It was a very constrictive site," Astorino says. "We found it tremendously challenging. The hardest site for an architect is a flat site. When you have restrictions, it lets you be much more creative."
From those restrictions, the building emerged.
Considering the triangular shape of the site, the architects decided to adopt the theme of the Holy Trinity as a leitmotif. First they designed the chapel's floor plan based on a triangular grid they drew of the site. Then they began designing the structure based on the same triangular grid. Thus, everything from the east and west masonry walls to the chapel's northern bell tower incorporates triangular forms or structural elements.
Inside, the triangular theme was carried out even further with the floor being a triangle mosaic of yellow and white carrara marble punctuated with bands of red and green marble between the columns.
At the altar, the floor's design culminates with a large marble triangle representing Christ and is surrounded by 12 smaller triangles that represent the apostles. The northernmost triangle is broken and represents Judas, the disciple that betrayed Jesus. From that broken triangle rises the Altar's crucifix, enigmatically lit by natural light that comes in through hidden windows.
Although the chapel was completed in 1996, the firm is continuing to contribute to the final touches of the project, with Astorino and architect James O'Toole working on a design for a removable sculpture of St. Peter's cross, which will be displayed in the rear apse of the chapel.
The location is of special note because the sculpture will be positioned at a point on axis with St. Peter's grave, which is located just over 100 yards away in St. Peter's Basilica.
"I knew that something very important had to happen symbolically at that connection where the center of our chapel crosses St. Peter's tomb," Astorino says.
Mass is held daily in the chapel, and Astorino occasionally receives a letter from the Vatican expressing gratitude for his firm's contribution to Vatican City. But of all the compliments he has received, it is the one from Cardinal Rosalio Jose Castillo Lara, the president of the Papal Commission, that Astorino remembers the most fondly.
"When we finished, the highest compliment anyone has ever paid me, he paid," Astorino says. "He said, 'We asked you to do a chapel that reflected today's thinking. You did one of yesterday, today and tomorrow.'
"It was really the nicest compliment that I ever received."
