First of all, I made it a point to illustrate why I felt the need to so drastically rework the roads crossing my site.
As you can see in the old (or existing) urban circulation map, the main arm of traffic comes to an abrupt fork to the west of my site, forcing it hard left or right. This creates a number of secondary connections on which traffic flows. This is counter to traditional Roman planning which favours a cross axis: the Cardo for north/south traffic and Decumanus for east/west. So, that’s what I made.
As a side note, I don’t believe anyone else in the class has taken such a drastic departure from the current layout of the site. That said, it is incredibly effective and I and the few other student that have seen my work are surprised no one else has done it.
By creating a Cardo and Decumanus I have divide my site into two halves, where there once was four. The road acts as a division line, separating the transportation hub created by the train station, bus terminal, subway and taxi hire, from the three museums. The division favours the museums to the north with an expansive green piazza at the centre of the three museums, compressing the transportation hub to the south into a bustling singularity.
The green piazza at the centre of the three museums is programmed with cafes and shops to the west and ruins of a water cistern in the centre. Green space spreads out in front of the cafes created by trees in pavers, providing shaded space for tables and benches. Around the large, nearly rectangular cistern, the green spaces begins to densify, tress in grass form alcoves for smaller, more private activities to happen, while, directly adjacent to the cistern, space is left open for outdoor museum exhibitions to occupy.
The transportation hub, while largely just, has a number of program elements given to take advantage of the increased foot traffic it will see. At the centre of the site, just to the north of the train station, I have chosen to place my bus terminal. I have recessed it three meters underground and place a market place over top of it. In doing so, I hope for the market to take advantage of being at the centre of a train, bus, subway and taxi, transit hub. This space is intermittently sloped and ramped; provide room for the buses to travel underneath but also to facilitate its secondary use: a performance venue at night, after all, what could be better to have at the centre of the Roman world?
I’m in the process of layout out the plan of the market to give it the feel of being a space excavated from a hill side, much like a marble quarry. My goal with doing this is to make a connection with the buildings around the market/venue, which will have a vast amount of polished marble elements. Also, through artificial cracks in the ground plain, like cracks in marble, I hope to connect back to the bus terminal below. These connections may not be readily apparent across the whole of the site and the buildings upon it, but it will be with the walls of the buildings framing its space, which will be all polished marble.
Two of these walls framing the market/venue will be that of double height shopping spaces. At grade they will be entered from the street and parking for the train station located to the east of the site. At the second level they will be entered from the market/venue.
My museum acts as the link between two disparate spaces of the museum piazza and transit hub. It provides program to both spaces while also accommodating travel between the two. On the museum side, the museum acts as a symbolic aqueduct, providing water to the ruins of the cistern. On the transport side, the museum acts as the third wall framing the space of the market/venue over the bus terminal. A crack forms between the museum and the market/ venue to provide access to the bus terminal. Conversely, as the market/venue slopes up it creates a shear wall to the south east which acts as the main entry of the bus terminal.
The overarching aesthetic design I’m applying to the buildings of my site has been something I have just only begun to touch on. My theory of design is as follows. The buildings of Rome are heavily rooted in history: they are, for the most part, built out of historical materials such as marble and tufa stone. It must follow then that new buildings in Rome should be built from these materials in order to conform to the lay of the urban fabric. That said, it can’t be ignored that new building materials and styles do exist. A study of the building typologies of Rome provides a guide as to the degree in which new building material (I refer to steel and glass) can be used in a give building’s design. In the case of a museum, a modern construct, steel and glass should be the main building element, using marble and stone only as a mean to ground it in its context. Conversely, cafes or shops, institutions which primarily occupy renovated older buildings, should be mostly marble and stone yet providing indication, through the presence of steel and glass, that they are renovated.
Keep in mind that I have only just started to design these shop typologies and my museum. I haven’t even used a ruler yet! Following the terms dictated by my typology study, I wanted to frame my museum on a wall of polished marble. The marble would literally be a thin wall of marble, much like a canvas, on which my museum would hang. The spaces of the museum would be intermittent frosted glass with thick metal frames, clear glass with no frames, only supported from the rear by spider clamps, and a wall of zinc panelling. These spaces symbolize earth, air and fire, which I was assigned by. I was also assigned water, but I’m toying with letting the cistern be that element...
My shops will be two story buildings. The base will be formed as a heavy marble base with few opening. The top will be stepped back from the street and be metal panelling. In this way the modern material, symbolizing the changes made to the buildings of Rome over time, will not be visible when up close, it will only be when a viewer steps back, to examine a building as a whole, will the modern buildings material become apparent.
Argh! That took too long! Did you get all that? I sure did! During my crit I was giving a number of suggestions which I took slight offence to but now, after reviewing my project in this manor, I can better come to terms with and I find myself wanting to implement! The second level of shops around the market/venue has to go, so do the water elements to the south. I also need to rework the placement of my cafes on the museum side of the road; can you see how they block the view to the museum to the west?
Please, post comments! You’re opinions main a lot.
