It's due for completion in 2013 and its dramatic curve will take centre stage in the new 2000-home satellite district of Segrate Santamonica, located in the north east axis of Milan.

Designed by Manfredi Nicoletti, this smooth glass and white concrete church rises like the petals of a flower opening towards the sky, creating an envelope which encloses an internal void intended as the main space for meditation and prayer.

Nicoletti intended for the interior to symbolise the arched vault of the heavens, and as a result, the complex has an element of ever-changing space and boundary since the actual volume, and how it is perceived is directly influenced by natural light.

The zenith light and the glazed skylights between the successive shells are continually responsive to the changing pattern of light and shadow as the sun moves across its trajectory; so according to the season, the weather, and the time of day, light is variously graduated down the inner surface of the shells thereby imparting to the church, the chapel and the baptismal fount a particular character.