Dialogue in the Dark - Rome | Duccio Marini

“Were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty.”  
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki 
 

Salone quarry (in Italian “Latomie di Salone”) is a part of ancient Roman quarries, which today are located between the industrial area Tiburtina and the A24 and A90 (GRA) motorways.  
Despite being in a state of complete abandonment, its 10 m altitude has marked the boundary between industry and quarry natural area.  
It is necessary to develop a project design to enhance the morphology of the quarries, considering the historical and natural aspects of this complex system. 
 
An excavated room, like the many cavities in Salone, has got a single side from which light can come. The shadow has an aesthetic value (as also written by J.Tanizaki): a lot of nineteenth-century artists came to these areas to experience their art. 
Darkness is also a condition that can bring the blind and the sighted to the same sensory level; indeed, those who do not see can benefit from having a better understanding of this circumstance. 
 
This assumption is the key of the“Dialogue in the Dark” exposition: in the absence of light, visitors, accompanied by blind guides, must rely exclusively on touch, hearing, smell and taste. It is not a simulation of blindness. 
 
Project intervention are selective and they do not have to alter the natural character of the area.  
The whole system of excavated rooms must be a starting point for the routes inside and outside of the tuff quarry. 
The building-ground relationship can offer many variants, taking into account zenith lighting.