THE FROZEN TOWER - TOWER OF BABEL | Arch. Simone Patruno

Mattatoio Testaccio was a slaughterhouse
in the centre of Rome once, but nowadays is in
a state of decay and a gypsies’ community
made of it its own house.
Then, aim of the design is the
renewal of this place, building inside to
slaughterhouse‘s internal garden a 90m tall
for 90m long for 90m large tower, which will
o􀆋 er services to the Rome city and houses
for gypsies and other communities which live
in the Italian capital.
It’ll be a sort of “city zip”, based on the
famous concept of biblical Tower of Babel,
a huge bricks-made ziggurat-city, which
hosted people of each race and origin.
But this 2.0 Tower of Babel won’t be made
by bricks and stones, but by Steel and Glass.
It is as an Ice-cube which had wrapped the
ruins of the ancient tower, preserving inside
the ziggurat’s form along time.
A vertical garden goes down where before
were the ancient tower’s walls, remarking
again so the original tower’s shape.
Housing spaces inside to the tower are
not so expensive because buyers can design
these by themselves, according to their own
culture and wishes.
Moreover, people can remain into the
tower for a long time if they wish so,
because all sort of service is provided inside
to the tower.