Title
Edge
Location
Rome, Italy
Type
Academic
Program
Mixed-Use
With
Calli Mingopoulos
For
Lorenzo Pignatti
At
University of Waterloo School of Architecture, Rome Campus

The topography of the Colosseo-adjacent site is preserved while access points are improved with insertion of local public space typologies. The main intervention is located at the footprint of an existing antiquarium, parallel to the Palatine Hill entrance. A 14m tall portico stands over its footprint, serving as a programmed structure, a filter from the street to an underground gallery and piazza above. Thick rammed earth walls, dug up from the site, rise up from below to the piazza, establishing an edge, relationship between planes and housing elements like skylights, vertical circulation and service. The underground is relieved through voids through the piazza. Beyond the wall, green spaces provide sculpture park, outdoor cafes, and overlook to the Colosseo.












