Risonanza (echo) is an exploration of overlapping formal echoes of the past and present. Layers of historical understandings build up over time, like the sediments of the River Tiber and the foundation of the great seven hills of Rome it is built upon.
At the heart of this project is the underlying philosophies of Metabletica, described by Dutch Academic J.H Van den Berg as a way of thinking in parallels by taking a cross section through history to inform process and programmatic relationships that build upon the past, in order to incorporate the needs of the present.
The scheme investigates a conceptual framework to develop a modular urban infrastructure that blurs the existing threshold conditions between levels of city and river, pavement and water while utilizing existing infrastructure to re-connect and regenerate the city as a functioning organism that develops out of its immediate context.
The project bases its siting via an analysis of projected intersections, drawn from existing bridges. The shadowed intersections of these become points of interest and form the basis of the data to determine the greatest congregation of the intersecting nodes of “echoes of intervention.”
Hierarchically the structure itself consolidates four levels of amenity. Beginning in at the city level it Provides users with an extension of public realm from the restrictive belt of sidewalk, to project out over the river, cascading downwards. The habitable topography of the roof structure allows the elevation of the existing bicycle route below, unencumbering the ground plane and providing un impeded views across the Tiber. The journey then cascades downwards with the extension of public realm above forming shelter for the commuters below. The previously unsheltered street markets held in this location are now serviced by some small amenities and flexible planning arrangements for stall layouts.
The façade reflects the aggregation of its program representing the internalized layering’s of space while adhering to the surrounding context. The curvaceous exterior reflects the interior in its layered multiplicity. The solid brick exoskeleton and vaulted domes, references the surrounding context of the fluid mutating face of the rushing river beside it.
This project was part of the 2017 Eleven International Architecture Competition #RomeRiverRenaissance
