restitching Rome
Revisiting Via For Imperiali
The Pantheon Institute / Fall 2018
Professor: David Sabatello
Partners: Peter Morano and Alex Keiser
Via dei Fori Imperiali stands as a vehicular urban trench between the archaeological sites of the Imperial and Roman Forums. The first objective for this studio was to rework the existing street network to integrate the Forum sites into a unified, open-air archaeological park for visitors to experience the grandeur of Ancient Rome. The site was analyzed through three key spatial relationships: north-south, east-west, and up-down. These dimensions were conceptualized as independent grids, and carefully interwoven with new pathways to facilitate pedestrian flow while highlighting important sightlines.
The urban design proposal reduces Via dei Fori Imperiali’s width by one-third, balancing pedestrian and vehicular needs. This reduction generates new intersections between the historical and modern city fabrics. Public structures are placed at these intersections to act as landmarks for the pedestrian as they traverse the park.
The studio’s second objective was the design of an Antiquarium—a “Museum of Artifacts”—as part of the reimagined urban system. The selected site, Ludus Magnus, is an archaeological excavation southeast of the Colosseum. The museum’s design is driven by three core intentions: (1) establish a subterranean pedestrian link between the Colosseum and the ruins through the excavation of Piazza del Colosseo, (2) introduce natural light into the ancient ruin level, and (3) respect the volumetric and visual relationships between the ancient and contemporary city grids.
For the visitor, the building emerges as a gateway and a destination for the archaeological park. Its architecture-heavy though light-filled, grounded and ascending-stands to provoke the ongoing dialogue between architectural preservation and contemporary urbanism.