MULTI-PURPOSE CENTRE IN ROME

The aim of the project was to create not only an “artificial elements”, but a relationship between natural and artificial, between the Tiber River and the city of Rome. What I have avoided from the outset of the design was to create a clear division between the river and the city. I thought it appropriate to identify the visual axes that could score some special paths and become the axes of the entire project.

Because of the peculiarities of the place, I decided to use lightweight materials like wood and steel and innovative materials such as polycarbonate for the articulation of elevations. The buildings were designed as volumes partially emptied, inserted within a structural frame made of laminated wood, presenting a cover in galvanized corrugated metal sheet, economic and absolutely light material. I felt I should show outside the laminated wood structures, to enhance the naturalness of the material and allow a functional and free disposal of the interior spaces.