Brooklyn-born architect Riccardo Vicenzino began his career designing luxury apartment buildings, but somewhere along the way decided he’d rather fill his portfolio with more religious projects.
“I felt a calling for ecclesiastical architecture,” Vicenzino, a Catholic, recalled.
That calling has now led him to the pinnacle of his profession and national recognition.
Vicenzino, 57, principal of Riccardo S. Vicenzino Architect, PLLC, a Manhattan-based firm, won the inaugural Bernini Award in the Churches, Shrines, and Ecclesiastical Buildings category from the Catholic Art Institute. He was presented with the award in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 19.
The institute says its mission is “to restore a culture of truth, beauty, and goodness” and to “empower artists to use their gifts to glorify God and captivate souls through beauty.”
The award is named for Gian Lorenzo Bernini, a 17th-century Italian architect who designed numerous marble sculptures and fountains gracing the streets and art galleries of Rome.
Vicenzino, whose work was selected from 94 entries, was recognized for his design of the Carmelite Monastery of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Fairfield, Pennsylvania, which is the abbey of the Carmel of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, a religious community of cloistered sisters.
“I feel the award isn’t just for me. I share it with the sisters,” he said. “It is a validation of our goal to keep with tradition and adhere to the principles of sustainability.”
Vicenzino worked closely with the sisters in planning the monastery. It isn’t just one building; it is a complex of buildings that includes a chapel, novitiate, and living spaces.
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The project is unique for the 21st century in that it uses traditional materials dating back centuries, including stone masonry, timber framing, lime mortar, and the skills of individual craftsmen. The monastery is designed with sustainability and endurance in mind, Vicenzino explained.
“We’re not building for now,” he said. “We’re building for the next generation.”
It is also meant to support the sisters’ simple lifestyle of prayer and contemplation with limited use of electricity in their daily lives.
“I believe there is a vested interest in restoring a level of architecture that represents our faith,” Vicenzino said.
The $100 million project is funded entirely through donations the sisters receive.
“The project is still in its infancy,” Vicenzino said. “But there are a couple of buildings that are built. The oratory was finished. We’re currently working on the choir, and we’re building the novitiate next.”
In one respect, Vicenzino’s approach to the monastery isn’t different from his secular work. With any project, his goal is to respect the building’s surroundings.
“Whenever we do the work, we look at the vernacular, regional architecture, the language, and place,” he explained. “We look at context and try to create things within that context.”
The Camelite Monastery of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is located in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania farm country, “and while it would have been very easy to drop a Spanish-influenced bit of architecture in the middle of farmland, that’s not what this monastery is about,” he added.
Vicenzino was born in Brooklyn and was baptized at the Basilica of Regina Pacis in Dyker Heights. He spent a portion of his childhood in Bensonhurst and attended St. Athanasius Church. His family lived on Staten Island for a while, and then, at age 9, they moved to Sicily, where his parents hailed from. They eventually returned to the United States.
Vicenzino graduated from the Pratt Institute and earned his master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame. He and his wife, Lori, who are the parents of seven children, currently live in northern New Jersey.
At home, Vicenzino said, his Catholic faith is not simply something reserved for Sundays.
“It’s not just going to Sunday Mass, coming home, and living your life according to cultural whims,” he said. “You have to create almost a mini monastery in your home.”