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This project develops along the area 'Lungotevere in Augusta' between the Cavour and Margherita's bridges. The first phase of the project centers on regenerating the urban landscape. The area in front of the new Ara Pacis musuem needs to be converted into a pedestrian-friendly public space: traffic circulation must be moved underground in order to build a public plaza facing the Tiber River. Considering these circumstances, we decided to develop the riverfront and design the plaza, the tunnel, and underground parking lots in a comprehensive scheme. The first task was to select the architectural and urban themes which would guide our proposal: the excavation and submersion, the flows of vehicles and pedestrian circulation, the public pedestrian use of the grounds (and the relationship with the preexisting trees and the Tiber River) became the themes that we decided to develop and formalize. Rather than summarizing these events, we wanted to highlight elements of polarity and point out the critical areas. The project is therefore defined by the readability and transformation of flows into signs.
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These streaming lines cut the surface of the ground as if they were streaks cutting across and then dropping onto the urban fabric. The city surface is treated like a skin which is detached by the continuous flow of vehicles and pedestrians - by the existence of an underground layer.
The nature of Rome’s physical stratum translates into a linguistic and cultural expression: “moving through” has acquired a particular meaning. In this project, the new underground level transforms the top urban layer, just as a new layer preserves the memory of the older one beneath it. The urban level of this project countrasts with this laceration thanks to the city's regular and rhythmic structure and thanks to its patterns. This surface represents the urban fabric's nature and it acknowledges the fact that it is not able to reproduce the complexity of this continuous flowing of the city in an artificial static equilibrium. It is this regular structure that measures the different scenes of the surroundings, giving sense to its lines, supporting the concept of excavation and abrasion.
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