Call Internazionale per Via dei Fori Imperiali - progetto fuori concorso | Accademia Adrianea di Architettura e Archeologia

Luca Basso Peressut, Pier Federico Caliari, Paolo Conforti, Sara Ghirardini, Samuele Ossola, Sergio Savini, Valerio Tolve, Alessandro Raffa, Michele Di Santis, Massimo Bellotti

Con
Romolo Martemucci, Marina Mattei, Carola Gentilini e Alessia Chiapperino

Hanno collaborato
Giampaolo Celada, Serena Dolci, Anna Sardi, Francesca Garagnani
Sara Bortolato, Alex Bernardelli, Enrico Valerio, Caterina Mancuso, Dino Kotlar, Martina Gherardi, Emilia Mitrovic, Federica Alberti, Maria Luisa Prestini, Giulia Baccetti, Francesca Maria Pozzi, Crispino Alessandro Iannello, Paola Mattioli, Paolo Piselli, Luigi Filippo Santilli

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

the classical concept of beauty, based on the iconic archetype of the ideal city, is the paradigm. Central perspective is the methodological refence, and geometrical mark is the re-foundation act.
The starting point is the road/square/park designed by Muñoz, which is at the same time the first revelation point of the Imperial Forums, and the design of a new arrangement of the central archeological area, referred to the capital city to be re-founded.
In this idea Via dei Fori Imperiali is meant as the result of an historical process, characterised by some key changes, which leads to the consideration of the road and the monuments connected for their aesthetical value, defining it as “the most beautiful street in the world”
this means introducing the idea of Via dei Fori Imperiali as a work of art. Today, after the interventions of the second ventennial, this work of art is on display with all its complexity made of layering, conjunctions and derivations, which are the result of the revelation -sometimes cruel- of its formal reality.
Therefore we think that via dei Fori Imperiali cannot be the subject of intervention that don't considet it as an artistic whole. The road is confirmed in its trace, in its dimentional proportions -based on the central perspective view of the Colosseum – and in its dogmatic geometric clarity
the aim of the project is not the the total legibility. Actually, the work on the palimpsest is meant to show the layering and the cohexistence of different ages.
Everithing is worth to be preserved, and everything is subject to critical verification, through the redisign of the edges, but without any cancellation. We work on the continuity and continuation af the work of art
The proposal concerns a critical interpretation of the existing elements: the fragments of the the Quartiere Alessandrino aren't consiered on the same lavel as the ruins of Apollodoro, nor are the medieval traces, and Villa Rivaldi is taken in considaration for nothing but its essence, a completion of the new (and not vice versa)
The contemporary city is not on the same level as the ancient one. They aren't on the same level phisically nor conceptually. Entering the archeological area means entering a sacred enclosure, with its differences, its symbols and its rituals. Ancient and modern must not be assimilated and put on the same experience level

PROJECT TARGET AND METHODOLOGY

the Accademia Adrianea-Premio Piranesi project is conceived as a rhapsody. That is, a set of projects developed through twenty years of reserch and design on the central archeological area; some are bachelor or master degree projects, one is a competition project, all recomposed and redisegned in a global master plan, which is the main actual contribution, togheter wit some new conceived monumental elements.

Globally, the proposal is based on:
keeping via dei fori Imperiali in its actual substance, with some redefinition and reduction interventions only on the edges and lateral parterre.
Keeping via Alessandrina in its trace, but reducing it in width and making it lighter, assuming the aqueduct as a visual reference
keeping the actual mobility solution, mixing pedestrian spaces and special public transport, even with time slot distinctions.
developing the general project on two strategic paths:

A) redefinition of the west edge of the area through a continuous design between
Colle Oppio and Velia

B) development of the project on five main central perspectives:
1. Trajan Column
2. Venus Genitrix temple
3. Maxentius basilica and Velia propylaea
4. Colosseum – Venus and Rome temple axis
5. Celio - Oppio axis
linking the new “ fori imperiali” metro station with the project through a hypogeal museum which connects Villa Rivaldi and its new belvedere tower with the basilica of Maxentius, where the new entrance gates to the Roman Forum are placed
placing a new vertical element halfway between Piazza Venezia and the Colosseum; its position is determined also by the symmetry axis connecting the Orti Farnesiani (re-founding work) with the basilica of Maxentius (other re-founding work)
requalifing museographically the axis connecting Ludus Magnus-Colosseum- Venus and Rome temple
extending the pertinential area to the Colle Oppio, including the archeological area of Titus and Trajan baths (not excavated yet).