M o n u m e n t s i n t h e C i t y
Rome, Italy, 2014
Tasked with forming a new relationship with the Aurelian Walls and the gate of Porta San Paulo, this project overlapped varying contextual systems through basic ground manipulations. The result is a grand public space juggling the monuments that trace the 3100 years at this intersection. The necessity to create a subservient space at the feet of these great monuments became apparent. By bringing in the highly functional grid of nearby Testaccio, the new piazza is tied to the context. By laying out the implied grid of the monuments, the overlap between these grids becomes the position of monuments in the city. The final piece of this puzzle is the space between the late 19th C train station and the Fascist, early 20th C station adjoining it. This difference in angles is proposed as a new access point to the station, now seen as a whole. This singular insertion at the site frames the gate.
The varying colors and shades of paving distributed across the site explain the layered history of the place while seeding control to a new logic for the city. This logic is presented as already living due to the forces on the site and only now solidified through the design.
