The Santa Maria Nuova church designed by Mario Botta is clad with pinkish-coloured soft-paste bricks that are the result of an intense research into materials and which, in addition to bringing out the colours of the Tuscan earth, have a great impact on the biocompatibility and thermal and acoustic insulation of the structure due to their mass, porosity and naturalness. The compositional rigour of the bi-absidal layout and the symmetry of the parts channel energy upwards, following the elevation of the altar.