„Anderer Orten muß man das Bedeutende aufsuchen, hier werden wir davon überdrängt und überfüllt. Wie man geht und steht, zeigt sich ein landschaftliches Bild aller Art und Weise, Paläste und Ruinen, Gärten und Wildnis, Fernen und Engen, Häuschen, Ställe, Triumphbögen und Säulen, oft alles zusammen so nah, daß es auf ein Blatt gebracht werden könnte. Man müßte mit tausend Griffeln schreiben, was soll hier eine Feder! und dann ist man abends müde und erschöpft vom Schauen und Staunen.“
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Italienische Reise, Rom, den 07.November, 1786-1788 / 1813 - 1817
Piazza dell'Oro / Vicolo dell'Oro
Piazza dell'Oro is located in the western part of the old city centre of Rome, very close to the Tiber and Castel Sant'Angelo. The square is defined by the façade of the Baroque church of San Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini. The urban environment has undergone extensive changes over the last 200 years due to breakthroughs caused by traffic. As a result, the experience of an urban space is severely limited. Former squares are now spatially indeterminate residual spaces next to the traffic axes of Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and Via Acciaioli.
History
In the wake of increasing traffic in cities at the end of the 19th century, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II was built through the medieval old town of Rome between 1883 and 1887. It was intended to connect Piazza Venezia with the Tiber and, in addition to Via del Corso, to become the most important traffic axis in the north-south direction through the old town in the east-west direction. Considerable demolition work in the neighbouring quarters was necessary to create the street. During the planning, historically valuable buildings were integrated like pearls on a necklace and each was given a wider section of the street to accommodate, like a square. In the original planning, the Corso was to turn off via Via del Banco di Santo Spirito towards Castel Sant'Angelo and the Tiber. However, in 1887 it was decided to lead the road straight through the quarter to the Tiber and from there over a new bridge to the other side of the Tiber with a connection to the Vatican. In the following years until 1911, the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II was built. On the banks of the Tiber, a symmetrical square welcomes the bridge as a gesture of welcome, thus forming the prelude to the Corso. Due to the necessary demolition of the road layout, triangular urban spaces were created between the new Corso, Via Paola and Via del Consolato. At this point, however, Piazza dell'Oro is still a square. Furthermore, the Ponte Principe Amedeo Savoia Aosta was built between 1939 and 1942. The previous steel suspension bridge further south was demolished. As a result, Via Accaiaioli was broken through the quarter in a straight extension to Corso Vittorio Emanuele. Piazza dell'Oro lost its spatial context. Even today, the adjacent buildings still show traces of the demolition. Some of the buildings are still provisionally supported.
Draft ‘Forms of Reconstruction - Piazza dell'Oro’
Examine the existing urban structures and typologies of the various spaces from different centuries (Middle Ages, Renaissance, 19th and 20th centuries). Use the extensive historical map material from four centuries for this purpose. Analyse the existing exterior spaces in terms of their spatiality and their relationship to the city, in particular the various square situations on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and Piazza dell'Oro in their different forms. Use all the historical city maps to find out about the spatial development of the location and incorporate this knowledge into your urban planning solution. Analyse the height development and the façade structures/elements of the surrounding buildings from different periods of construction. Four basic options for traffic routing, one per group, serve as the basis for all urban planning considerations. Clarify which parts of the property will be built on and which will remain undeveloped and the respective spatial situation after the new buildings to be designed have been placed in the urban space. Use the existing typologies of alley, street, square, vicolo, courtyard, etc. for your urban design. Make sections through the new situations and check the spatiality using a model. Define the uses for the individual building blocks of your design and divide the buildings among your group members for further work in the second semester.
In the second semester, you will design and develop the buildings in more detail. This can thus be understood as a building block of the chosen urban development plan. Develop a building that fits appropriately into the immediate and indirect urban and landscape context in terms of space, form and purpose, and can be understood as the House of the City of Rome. It is also important to comment on the connection to the surrounding urban space and the spatial network with the immediately surrounding quarter and the city as a whole. Make statements about materials and colours, starting from the urban scale of the facades and extending to the interiors as part of the overall concept. In particular, address the reconstruction of the facades in the block fragments remaining due to the road openings. On the basis of the knowledge you have gained during the semester through the lectures on the ‘forms of reconstruction’, develop an attitude towards this for your new buildings.
An introduction to the task will be provided by the teaching staff online via Zoom on Wed, 26.03.2025 at 11.00 a.m.
To join the Zoom meeting:
https://rwth.zoom-x.de/j/62344489750?pwd=WIdRkZSFnyca2V3GcZWNvhfq4bvZBB.1
Meeting ID: 623 4448 9750
Passcode: 120268
The output on Tuesday, 8 April 2025, at 10:00 a.m. will take place in our teaching area in person – more information will follow as soon as the participants have been assigned. At this meeting, the task will be explained, questions can be asked and the groups will be divided.
Students assigned to the design must attend this event. Any places not taken will be allocated directly to those who have moved up.
The work will be carried out in the summer semester of 2025 in groups of 4-5 to develop the master plan and will be continued in the winter semester of 2024/2025 as an individual project.
Supervision will take place in colloquia for all groups in a 14-day rhythm, usually on Tuesdays (see dates).
In addition to the design as a partial seminar paper, a series of lectures on ‘Forms of Reconstruction’ will be held in the summer semester of 2025.
Module: M2, FORMEN DER REKONSTRUKTION, Piazza dell' Oro, Rom
Module Code: Projekt M2 Architektur 2019 - LV.NR. 21.00321
Semester: SS
Year: 2025