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Designed by architects Francesco Lipari, Lillo Giglia, and Giuseppe Conti, the new Santa Barbara Parish Complex in Licata, Italy, was selected through a two-stage invited competition promoted by the Archdiocese of Agrigento and the Santa Barbara Parish, with funding from the Italian Episcopal Conference through the ‘8xmille’ program. Conceived as a contemporary ‘campus of faith,’ the complex combines spaces for worship, education, and community activities within a permeable architectural composition that engages with the local urban and cultural context.
The project was developed through a collaborative process involving the parish community, the Archdiocese of Agrigento, the Diocesan Office for Ecclesiastical Cultural Heritage and Religious Buildings, and the Italian Episcopal Conference. Rather than following a conventional top-down approach, the design evolved through consultation, allowing the community to help define the pastoral, liturgical, and functional requirements of the new complex. Following the preparation of the Preliminary Design Document, a two-stage invited competition was launched in 2016. Fifteen design teams were invited, nine proposals were submitted, and three finalists were selected before the proposal by Francesco Lipari, Lillo Giglia, and Giuseppe Conti was chosen.
Located in the expanding Oltreponte district on the western edge of Licata, the complex occupies a site previously used informally as an unpaved parking area. The project transforms this vacant plot into a civic and religious destination, providing the neighborhood with spaces for worship, education, and community life. Rather than functioning as an isolated church building, the development is organized as an integrated campus comprising the church, churchyard, weekday chapel, pastoral facilities, catechism classrooms, and rectory. Together, these elements establish a public and spiritual center that strengthens the identity of the surrounding residential district. A key element of the project is the churchyard, conceived as a public square that mediates between the city and the liturgical spaces. Acting as both threshold and gathering place, it connects the parish with the surrounding neighborhood while reinforcing the civic role of the complex.
the church as a new civic and spiritual landmark in the Oltreponte neighborhood | all images by Francesco Caristia
Reinterpreting Sacred Architecture Through Form and Light
The architectural concept, developed collaboratively by Francesco Lipari, Lillo Giglia, and Giuseppe Conti, interprets the church as a ‘house among houses,’ combining accessibility with a clear urban presence. The liturgical hall is organized around a Greek-cross plan derived from the archetype of the ‘hut’ primitive dwelling. This geometry is transformed into an organic volume defined by curved walls, continuous surfaces, and a flowing roof that expresses movement and collective gathering. The spatial organization follows the liturgical sequence outlined in the Italian Episcopal Conference’s pastoral guidelines, clearly articulating the altar, ambo, presider’s chair, baptismal font, and Eucharistic reservation. Concave and convex walls guide circulation and gradually lead visitors from the entrance toward the central liturgical space. Rather than reproducing historical forms, the design reinterprets Mediterranean and Sicilian architectural traditions through contemporary spatial and formal language. The sequence from churchyard to entrance and finally to the worship hall establishes a gradual transition from the public realm to the sacred interior.
Two architectural elements define the identity of the complex: a cylindrical bell tower that serves as a landmark while referencing Saint Barbara through its vertical openings, and a large golden recessed entrance arch conceived as a symbolic ‘Gate of Heaven.’ The light-colored textured facade changes throughout the day as natural light interacts with its surface, while square openings introduce daylight into the interior, where light becomes an integral architectural and symbolic element. The square openings, varying in size, introduce a theme of solids and voids, light and shadow, which continues inside the liturgical hall. This device contributes to creating an intimate and spiritual atmosphere, in which natural light becomes architectural matter and an instrument of symbolic orientation. The fluidity of the architectural envelope finds in the light-colored stone liturgical focal points a principle of order and permanence; natural light amplifies their presence, while the artworks introduce a figurative dimension capable of making the celebrated mystery visible.
main facade and churchyard, where the golden arch marks the passage from public space to sacred space
A Hybrid Structure Supports Worship and Community Activities
Beyond the main church, the complex accommodates classrooms, pastoral offices, a parish hall, and a weekday chapel. Located to the northeast of the site, these facilities support education, meetings, and everyday parish activities while completing the overall composition. The weekday chapel provides a more intimate setting for daily services and personal prayer, complementing the larger liturgical hall while maintaining the project’s restrained material palette and emphasis on natural light.
The construction system can be described as hybrid, based on the integration of concrete structures and large timber roof elements. The masonry structures provide mass, continuity, and plasticity to the curved walls and vertical elements, while the glulam beams make it possible to cover the liturgical hall with a lightweight system, suited to following the dynamic development of the interior space. The suspended ceiling of the liturgical hall and the weekday chapel is made with a slatted panel system, which makes it possible to reproduce the curvature of the roof and to give the interior a continuous, warm, and vibrant surface. In particular, the use of modular slats allows the sinuous development of the roof to be followed through a regular rhythm, transforming geometric complexity into a legible and buildable construction system. This solution performs several functions simultaneously: it defines the internal image of the hall, improves the acoustic and luminous perception of the space, conceals and integrates the technical elements, and contributes to creating an intimate atmosphere. The timber suspended ceiling thus becomes a spatial device capable of accompanying the ascending tension of the hall and reinforcing the path towards the presbytery.
the churchyard acts as an open civic square, connecting the parish complex with the city