The Eternal City: Rome_Koen Hezemans

THE ETERNAL CITY

ROME

projecting rome’s adaptive green past on its future

Master in Urbanism Amsterdam University of the Arts Koen Hezemans July 2018 1

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Monte Testaccio, Adaptive Urbanism

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Orti Farnesiani, Public vs Private

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Villa Guilia, Sequence of Spaces

The challenge for this masterplan is to design with the existing and the new, but first we need to understand the existing

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summary

According to the myth, Rome originated on two hills more than 2500 years ago. Romulus climbed the Palatine hill and Remus took a position on the opposite hill, the Aventine. From there, the city grew out over seven hills into an unprecedented metropolis.

Two millennia later, the inhabitants of Rome didn’t lose their mythical belief in endless growth. However, urban design today is only focussing on new housing quarters far away from the existing city. For example, the agricultural landscape of Rome transforms into a suburb with large residential complexes in a disastrous low density; Apartment buildings and shopping malls that can only be reached by car. Low density is the enemy of public space and puts the existing city under even more pressure to maintain itself, which halts the development.

The streets and parks are not cleaned and cars ensure that the traffic remains stuck.

special, layer on top of layer, religious leaders, emperors, and dictators have turned and adapted the city. Like emperor Nero who, after the big fire of 64 AD, could make his straight avenues, or the many popes who made a green villa landscape along the consular roads, the aqueducts, the Aurelian wall, and the Tiber. With each intervention, next to improvement and innovation, was the grandeur and the revival of Roman glory.

There is a big challenge for Rome to have a new future developed strategy, not only to expand but also to intensify and update the existing city. This urban design shows that with historical research smart and innovative solutions can be found to improve the inner city of Rome, creating new stories to add to the eternal city.

Almost all cities in the world are growing, but the quality of life in the cities is not constant (The Economist).

Rome is a city where the quality of life deteriorates rather then improves. It is also a city with 2500 years of innovation and change. These changes make Rome so

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Master in Urbanism Amsterdam University of the Arts Koen Hezemans July 2018

Mentor : Henk Hartzema Committee: Francesco Garofalo, Hiroki Matsuura Graduation Committee: Tess Broekmans, Herman Zonderland

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Index

1. fascination and the green past 10 2. growth and decline 30 3. assignment for rome 50 4. location 56 5. Masterplan 76 6. Explanation: six new urban projects 90 7. opportunities for rome 140

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1 FAsCINATION and the green past

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FAsCINATION

c’e una storia sotto ogni pietra

Terme di Diocleziano, layout of the original building 306

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Many writers, painters, poets, and architects have tried to capture Rome in its pure essence. But every time you think you know the city you are being overwhelmed by new gardens, squares or buildings you didn’t see before.

Every place has its own layer of history, it is like the city wants to tell you story after story. But the city doesn’t want to be captured in a single story, I think you cannot grasp Rome. According to me, the real story of Rome is the endless possibility to adapt, layer on top of layer.

Today Rome has lost part of its ability to adapt, the whole historic city center is old and clearly shows a lack of maintenance. On the one hand, it is protected by laws or private owners and on the other hand the municipality doesn’t have money to conduct the restoration. Rome as many other cities deserve to be continuously updated, altered and learned from. With careful reading of the past and listening to the needs of the inhabitants this old way of thinking has huge potentials.

Adaptation is the essence of being resilient for a city.

Terme di Diocleziano is a great example of a place that has changed its function many times. It was inaugurated in 306BC and changed more than ten times, in function, use, owner and shape. And still the remains of the original buildings are still visible today. This development over time is what every city in the world lends its character from, the stories, the soul.

The ambition of this thesis is to see the city as Terme di Diocleziano, carefully reading what was where and building upon these stories, creating new ones, creating new places and houses within the already beautiful city.

I believe the true nature of the city is this endless adaptability, it is also why Rome has been resilient for the past 2500 year.

under every stone lays a different story

Terme di Diocleziano, layout after multiple adaptations and renovations

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Terme di Diocleziano: inaugurated in 306 1575 by Gregory XIII who used the Baths as a stockpile of grain; 1609 Paul V enlarged it; 1630 Urban VIII built a new big granary, destroyed in the 30’s of this century; 1704 Clement XI built on the other ruins an edifice named “Clementino”; 1764 Clement XIII placed in one of the halls of the Baths containers containing oil.

1870 Baths as a prison After the prison Queen Margherita founded here the Institute for Blind People 1889 Museo Nazionale was installed, but before the baths were occupied by a huge beer-bar with dancing. church of Santa Maria degli Angeli church of San Bernardo alle Terme

rometour.org/terme-di-diocleziano-diocletian-bath.html

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the green past

It is a miracle how cities can contain secrets with tremendous value for the main public, Rome has a green secret. Almost everybody knows the black and white map of Giambattista Nolli, he was an Italian architect and surveyor. He is best known for his iconographic plan of Rome, the Pianta Grande di Roma which he began surveying in 1736 and engraved in 1748, and is now universally known as the Nolli Map. The secret of this map is the fact that it isn’t a black and white map but a black and green map. The whole city is full of gardens, agriculture and green courthouses.

This green past is essential to know when you start designing in Rome, a lot of elements from the past can be lessons for the future. For this graduation 25 gardens have been studied, starting from the House of the Vestal Virgins 12BC with its beautiful courtyard with multiple waterbeds to provide a cool climate in the hot summers.

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The research passes true time and goes until one of the latest park and venue place Parco della Musica designed

by Renzo Piano and opened in 2002.

Most of the gardens are there to be seen and enjoyed by everyone. Even though some are still private like Galleria Doria Pamphilji, you can visit them with a museum ticket. The Villa Borghese gardens were opened a long time ago, originally private gardens but were bought by the commune of Rome and given to the public in 1903.

From this research, spatial and architectonical elements are derived that are translated in the new designs. As a toolbox, it is used to created cooled gardens, squares and different sequences of spaces. As the old city, the graduation shows that these ideas are still valuable and stay true to the design elements of the historic city.

Different gardens constructed in different times

Nolli map, black and white or black and green?

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Rome as landscape theatre, gardens projected by Clemens Steenbergen

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Villa Aldobrandini, the park is above an ancient magazzini, build above the street level and ontop of ancient ruins

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Atrium Vestae 12 BC Teatro Marcello 13 BC Palazzo Colonna 1200 Villa Farnesina 1506 Palazzo Farnese 1517 Villa Giulia 1550 Palazzo Ricci-Sacchetti 1564 Orti Farnesiani 1570 Palazzo Quirinale 1574 Chiesa Nuova 1575 Villa Aldobrandini 1571-1621 Basilica di Sant’Andrea delle Fratte 1604-1826 Villa Barberini 1626

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Galleria Doria Pamphilj 1651 Villa Torlonia (Mussolini) 1806 Via Catalana (Gettho) 1870 Villa Riccio 1919 Quartiere Garbatella 1920 Case ICP Flaminio II 1925 Il Girasole 1950 Viale Manzoni 1950-1960 Via Arcinazzo 1963 Via Degli Olimpionici 1980 Via Andrea Solario 1980 Parco Della Musica 2002

Quirinale gardens

Stepped gardens connected to Palazzo Colonna

Atrium vestae

Teatro Marcello, tranformed to a villa with gardens inside

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Palazzo Barberini, forced vistas

plaza

vestibule

court

vestibule

garden

bridge

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Palazzo Farnese, sequence of spaces

Via Degli Olimpionici, architectural experiment for new housing typologies

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Case ICP Flaminio II, 1925 sequence of spaces

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Case ICP Flaminio II, 1925 sequence of spaces

Villa Riccio, example of early gated communities

Green and cool oasis inside villa Riccio

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Building confines garden

Building inside a garden

Multiple buildings in garden

Organisation of spaces

Wild garden

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Symmetric courtyard

Symmetric garden

open spaces The historic city centre looks like it is grown organic, chaotic sometimes by accident. But if you take the gardens out of their context you can discover simple patterns of repetition and rules. What also can be discovered is that gardens in the later development of Rome are becoming bigger and less private. But this doesn’t improve the quality, instead, it decreases in a lot of studied examples. The public domain is taken less care of then the private gardens. Private means well maintained and provide a pleasant escape from the busy city life.

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connected

Durable materials private vs public

Quite and hidden, forced vistas

Layered, stepped gardens

Roofed gardens

Temperature regulated

Add-on, transformed

Private & maintained

Social gatering

architectural elements A garden in Rome is not a garden without clever architecture, like the bridge designed by Michelangelo at Palazzo Farnese, or the stepped gardens of the gone Orti Farnesiani. The nine drawings on the left are the key elements that make the Roman garden work, flourish and I believe the reason they are still there in more or less the original shape. In the architecture smart climatic elements can be discovered, with water or shadow the temperature can be regulated, forced vistas create safe and cool passages. In other cases construction is just re-used, adapted and recycled. Again giving the future of urban design in Rome new leads with recycling old stories.

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Villa Aldobrandini, quiet and hidden park far above the streetlevel

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2 growth and decline

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why growth doesn’t delivere more quality?

It is no news anymore that people all around the world are moving towards the city. However what is striking is that most of this growth doesn’t bring more welfare towards the city. “In the European Union alone, 1,000 square kilometers each year, an area larger than Berlin, is transformed from rural land into residential areas, industries, roads or recreational areas.”

Thackara, J. 2015. How to thrive in the next economy.

Thames & Hudson Ltd, London Now, as city planners and architects, we can plan even more new neighborhoods, and come up with the ultimate utopia. But for the time being, these utopias are best shown in the museums. So what solutions do people, residents of the city or the countryside need now? Why are we not happy in our crowded streets and claustrophobic apartments? How do we create a vision for the future of an existing city?

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The urban designer and architect must understand a city and transform it from the inside, by looking at it from the user, how do you make the city accessible and liveable for everyone? In my opinion, the real myth of the city is that you can endlessly restore, transform and make it healthier, but endless growth is disastrous. This chapter shows how the cities have grown through history and how the city has grown in the last building boom after the war.

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year 0

How to become resilient again? Rome has proven to be the Eternal city over and over again, but today the city seems locked. It’s strangling itself by the new era of modernisation. It stopped reinventing itself, it stopped being the leader in urban planning, the only thing that seems to be moving are the cars. Next, to a fear of changing the existing city, a lot of development is locked due to heritage protection, expensive land, and speculation on the housing market. At the same time housing is needed and renovation of the existing tissue which is in many places dilapidating. So what if we look at the city in 2500 years history? We actually see a city which is changing constantly, adapting and transforming. What if we imagine that this is the story of Rome, it should be able to renew and reinvent itself. This research over the history of time in Rome shows how re-use works, how these ideas of the past can transform the existing city.

The adaptability of the past can be the resilience of the future as described in the book ‘Rome Works’ by the American architect Tom Rankin. By finding other keys 34

Middle ages

than just expanding the city, we can look for optimisation of the existing urban areas.

The historic map research used the digital version of the Rodolfo Amedeo Lanciani (1 January 1845 – 22 May 1929 who was an Italian archaeologist, a pioneering student of ancient Roman topography, and among his many excavations was that of the House of the Vestals in the Roman Forum.

The Nolli map by Giambattista Nolli (or Giovanni Battista, April 9, 1701 – July 1, 1756) was an Italian architect and surveyor.

The PRG (Piano Regolatore 1883) from just after the unification of Italy to see for the further developments in urban planning And the last map is a modern Rome how it is today, downloaded from Openstreetmaps.

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growth, shrink and more growth

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ancient rome Roman civilisation dates from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. The city consisted of around 1 million inhabitants at its highest point, before it started to fall in decay.

753-509 bC Monarchy 100.000 inh.

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509 bC - 49 aC Republic 1.000.000 inh.

49 aC - 300 aC Roma augustea 1.000.000 inh.

renaissance After a dark period, the city was almost empty and left as a ruin.

During the Papal times, the city gained power again, and Rome became the holy city, reviving the old ancient qualities. During these times nobels from Rome invested heavily in the rebuilding of the old Roman qualities.

300 - 600 Towards a Cristian Rome 500.000 inh.

800 - 1400 Carolingian age 100.000 inh.

1400 - 1861 Pope 150.000 inh.

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unification Italian unification or the Risorgimento was the political and social movement that consolidated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of the Kingdom of Italy in the 19th century. The process began in 1815 and was completed in 1871 when Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy.

1831 - 1870 Risorgimento 250.000 inh.

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modern rome After the city boomed, new houses were built along the (historic) radial street system which created typological islands of housing disconnected by infrastructure. The city territory is vast, but still contains a limited amount of urban typologies.

Villa Borghese

Villa Doria Pamphili

Appia Antica

1922 - 1943 Fascism 1.500.000 inh.

1944 - today Modern Metropole 4.340.000 39

the layered city

Modern Ancient Auralian wall

Renaissance

The layered city can truly be viewed when we plot the city on top of each other. During this part of the research, it becomes clear that de-transformation of Terme di Diocleziano is a rule rather than an exception. The city grows, shrinks, adapts, invents and restructures itself on the level of urbanism, architecture and landscape architecture. These changes make Rome so special, religious leaders, emperors, and dictators have turned the city into their own. For example, Emperor Nero who, after the big fire of 64 AD, could make his avenues, or the many popes who made a green villa landscape along the consular roads, the aqueducts, the Aurelian wall, and the Tiber.

With each intervention, next to improvement and innovation, was the grandeur and the revival of Roman glory.

The first example of Piazza del Popolo has always been an important route into the city, during ancient times and in the Cristian time for pilgrims. The other example shows how the pattern of an old ancient theater can still be seen in the street pattern today, and how the Corso Vittoria Emanuele created a big car street in the middle of the historic heart.

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Changes at Piazza del Popolo

From historic city to modern car street Corso Vittorio Emanuele

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753 BC - 2000

six distinctive urban typologies

1930 - 1970

Historic

1900 - 1970

Palazzine

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Intensivo

Inside the Aurelian walls, you can find the historic city centre with modern buildings till buildings dating two centuries back. North of Piazza Venezia is the Centro Storico, the real dense heart of Rome, which is the triangular piece of land in the bend of the River Tiber outside the city centre.

This area in Roman times was known as the Campus Martius, with barracks, sporting arenas, and several temples including the Pantheon. Today

it has a host of narrow streets and alleys that have some of the best of Rome’s classical and Baroque heritage and its vivacious streets and nightlife.

Palazzine is a type of housing block built extensively between the 1930’s and 1970’s.

It often consisted of 5 or 6 stories. On the ground floor there are possibilities for public amenities and above, dwellings. It was built in different districts around central Rome and as the name states, it refers to the traditional Roman palace. The blocks are scattered around in an irregular organisation of streets and natural landscapes, often

standing very close to each other limiting the use of the gardens and privacy. On these plots, developers and speculators were allowed to increase the building mass by forming a very dense hybrid of a palace and villa neighborhoods.

Intensivo is a much denser typology with the facade directly at the street, 8 to 9 stories, and an inner court. The Intensivo areas had a density between 300 to 500 inhabitants per hectare. The ground floor here was also often used for amenities. “A relatively coherent example of the use of the intensive can be seen in the area planned around the Piazza Bologna” (Woodward, 1995) and during the Fascist period, fine examples were

built with green inner courts.

Examples that give an image of the original idea. However “other districts fared less well and the broad laissez-faire implementation of the plan produced large areas of chaotically arranged and over-dense housing.” (Woodward, 1995)

Here you will find old piazzas, Renaissance churches, and fountains, streets busy with scooters and pedestrians. Wherever you go there is something of historic interests.

1960’s 1950 - 1970

Social housing

1980’s on

Illegal housing

Speculative

INA Casa (l’Istituto Nazionale per le Assicurazione) was a social housing project enforced after the second world war when housing shortages were severe. Taking the Charter of Athens as a base the architects created their own interpretation of rational styles, thinking of material, building technology, social and psychological ideas for the neighborhoods.

The green areas in-between slabs are not flamboyant but rather sufficient, creating green areas with wide access

roads. At the end of the 1960’s, the construction of neighborhoods known as “167” (named after housing Law No. 167 of 1962) began. Housing for about 165.000 people was planned and built all around Rome. These “projects stood as independent islands and exacerbated a situation of social segregation”. 11 (Ambrosio) These housing areas are subordinated areas to this day.

“Since state initiatives did not manage to satisfy the requirements for affordable housing, a large number of illegal dwellings of various types started to colonise the Agro from the 1950’s on.” (Ambrosio, 2010) Without a strategy or masterplan, typology could variate in these areas from shanty towns, to palazzine, to family villas and family homes. Sometimes, the unbuildable land was sold to contractors, working at night to build large buildings.

Other times, plots were sold to families constructing their

own family homes. In 1981 about 28% of both the built-up area and the people living in Rome were without permission (Vidotto, 2001).” (link) In 1977, “the historical” suburban periphery of Rome was surveyed and official boundaries established (fifty-five illegal areas covering more than 3.000 ha). Water, sewage, gas and electricity facilities were provided. (Marinaro, 2014) The layout follows a simple grid, lacking quality in public space, but often having a very strong community life.

From the 1980’s local government has seen a massive withdrawal of the public sector from the housing market. (Marinaro, 2014) Letting more neoliberal policies guide financial investments and real-estate speculation.

Speculative areas constructed to maximize profits encourage mass consumption with many shopping malls and lack a clear readability. Often designs are generic, neglecting the quality of public space

and lacking public transport, making people rely on cars.

Developers use basic modern design principles only when it doesn’t interfere with profits. Many of these areas are constructed around a highway called the GRA (Grande Raccordo Annulare). However, the apartments are often spacious for families, outside the centre, affordable and have balconies.

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Building: Open space: Private open:

71% 22% 8 %

FSI: 3,53 GSI: 0,71 Squares of 300x300m = 90.000m2 44

Building: Open space: Private open: FSI: 2,20 GSI: 0,37

37% 63% 1 %

Building: Open space: Private open: FSI: 3,95 GSI: 0,39

39% 50% 10 %

Building: Open space: Private open: FSI: 2,09 GSI: 0,23

23% 77% 0 %

Building: Open space: Private open: FSI: 0,72 GSI: 0,24

24% 76% 0 %

Building: Open space: Private open: FSI: 0,74 GSI: 0,12

12% 88% 0 %

Rome is growing with less density 45

lower density and little public transport results in more cars Barcelona

16.000 people / km2

Genova

2.400 people / km2

Rome

2.232 people / km2

66%

Torino

Modal split four cities 46

6.800 people / km2

Speculative urban design far away from the city centre

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new BUILDING LOCATIONS are not being build near tram, metro or train

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2017

metro (500m radius) train station (1.000m radius) university, institutions and research institutes in Rome centralities buildings active districts (center, shops, work) construction sites municipality boarder GRA Grande Raccordo Anulare Auralian wall

Much of the development is happening around the GRA (highway)

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Tiber 0

2.500m

5.000m

From a compact city in 1950, the city boomed in 70 years along the consular radial street system. This created a linear city, crossed or excluded from different landscape systems, Tiber, the sea, natural land, and agriculture.

Along the radial system, the connections are pretty good but the network in-between is very limiting. Creating mono-functional urban areas with enormous, low quality public spaces and long routes towards services.

Future urban planning, development and renovation locations need to house 80.000 - 120.000 new inhabitants. Besides efforts Rome is still depending on a centralized urban system, putting enormous mobility stress on the consular radial street system, without creating new solutions.

With UMZ data from the European Union, you are able to plot the new construction sites. A simple calculation

learns that 1.300 ha is planned for the expansion of the city. If we plot the existing and planned train and metro public transport it becomes very clear that Rome is not planning to stay a compact city. It is rather sprawling and letting the modal split mostly depending on cars. Which we already learned that 66% of the movement in the city is already done by car.

Of the planned construction areas 540 ha is actually not planned in the vicinity of public transport by bike or walking. This is around 40 percent of the total housing areas that should look for a better location, connected to public transport, environmental quality, economic opportunity, basic amenities, and public space. The question is where can these houses land and in which densities?

Development and renovation locations 80.000 - 120.000 new inhabitants. Besides efforts Rome is still a centralized system, putting enormous mobility stress on the consolari radial street system.

Construction sites in relation to the existing public transport hubs.

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4 assignment for rome

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finding alternative locations for densification and growth

As the city is decentralizing with construction sites around the ring road (GRA) we also see that these sites are disconnected from public transport, areas of work and amenities. On the next page, we see that many former industrial areas around the city center and the neighborhoods attached to it are often in terrible condition. Public space, housing, and parks are dilapidating and not maintained. Cars dominate in most areas and take around 26 percent of the space around Porta Sao Paolo. Places that can and should be transformed because they are actually close to public transport, work and amenities.

Around the city center the total amount of abandoned or underused industrial spaces that connect with the requirements, to the natural network, dilapidated areas, public transport and the cultural network is substantial.

In total 335ha meets these requirements and with a sufficient amount of density, these areas could be transformed, restructured and brought back to life again.

All within close biking distance to the historic city, work and public transport.

Further, the climate is getting warmer and there are longer periods of droughts. But when it rains, the water due to the big amount of car infrastructure there is little space for rain to flow away. And when it doesn’t rain the black asphalt and stoney areas heat up easily.

DECENTRALISATION

For more than 2500 years Rome has been incredibly resourceful in adapting the city. Around the historic center of Rome are special locations that through transformation can absorb a large part of the urban growth. How can this porosity of the existing city tissue today provide new places; • for people to live in healthier environments, • for nature to flourish with smart climate effective solutions, • embedded in the rich cultural history?

climate challenges

metro (500m radius) train station (1.000m radius) university, institutions and research institutes in Rome centralities active districts (center, shops, work) construction sites municipality boarder GRA Grande Raccordo Anulare Auralian wall

2.500m 2.500m

train tram metro & train station train station buildings buildings in need of attention old/dilapidated industrial, military areas parks in need of attention green oudside the wall Auralian wall

Tiber 0 0

metro

metro station

buildings

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poor URBAN quality

Tiber

5.000m

Appia antica, example of a historical routes that connects the citycenter with the surrounding landscape

Parks in need of attention

Dilapidated areas around the Auralian wall

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Nature and history as strategic positioning for new housing

Strategical urban design to connect new housing with natural and historic areas

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following simple rules that connect to the different stories of rome

RADIAL DEVELOPMENT

connected to natural network

connected to public transport network

40%

+/-

CLIMATE CHALLENGES

Dilapidated locations

connected to cultural network (university etc.)

of the houses can be solved using the exiting city

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4 location

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Location The location is situated on the south side of the historic city center. It is a location where hundreds of different stories are intertwined with each other. The area is next to the Tiber which means that the area was in ancient times a big harbour area. On the East side above the Janiculum Hill is the big park Villa Doria Pamphili, on the Westside, you have Parc Appia Antica. These natural structures are not connected with each other except with the old Aurelian city wall. Along the Aurelian wall, there is not an official route or path.

Even though it is part of the city center the location is pretty unique. Especially when we look at the openclosed space. In the city center 56 percent of the area is build, which means it is really dense, the masterplan location, however, has only 27 percent build. This is due to big car infrastructure and parks that are not being used like the old trash hill Monte Testaccio. A quality of the area is the amount of green, it is only not connected or maintained, but also the amount of public transport.

The hubs, Porta S. Paolo, Pyramid, and Ostiense can all be much more interesting if more people could use public transport in a more efficient and safe way.

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The area can be seen as six completely different areas, but the challenge is to look for the mutual elements that connect them. The lines in the landscape and cultural network that bring a new urban fabric to the area which reacts on the old, but brings new potential.

Parco della Resistenza Campo Testaccio

mattatoio Nord

monte dei cocci

mattatoio sud

M CE

M CE

RY ET

AURALIAN WALL

RY ET

Stazione Ostiense

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Open vs build

piazza navona Compact city

Open 35 %

Build 56 %

Court 9 %

masterplan location

more open space, less quality

Build 27 %

Open 69 %

Court 4 %

Build 32 % Open 64 %

Court 4 %

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5 masterplan

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connecting iconic fragments by adding new urban fabric, using historic maps

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Maps: 1748 Nolli map 1893 Lanciani roma urbis romae 1889 Mattatoio architect and engineer Gioacchino Ersoch; 1891 Campo Testaccio cartografiastorica 1931 Piano Regolatore 2018 Openstreetmap 79

The new urban plan connects two city parks on a large scale, attaches to the blue vein of the city - the Tiber - and creates non-existent connections towards the train and metro stations in the surrounding areas. The red areas are dilapidated areas that can or should be transformed and densified.

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green today is not maintained and grows spontaneous between the buildings

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Not maintained

Closed

Closed Closed ce

ce

Homeless area

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water retention in semi-public areas

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activate waterfront

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wind from south west cools down the new housing thanks to the green ring park

Today the green consist of loose fragments of green, parks and old public spaces. There are two incredibly beautiful parks and both of them are cemeteries.

The riverfront is the domain of homeless people, Mattatoio has little space for green and is dilapidated, Monte Testaccio is closed to the public. The old football field is broken and the playground along Via Marmorata. Parco Della Resistenza dell Otto’settembre is full of rubbish.

A robust green structure can create new commuting routes and recreative walk/bike paths.

XL: the route along the Tiber can be updated and make sure people can reach the city center, housing areas, and working places.

L: Ring park along the Aurelian Wall. All around the historic city, there is a beautiful wall, which connects the big green lobes of Rome and housing with working areas.

S: In the area, the landscape has a hidden watercourse. Lower places can be transformed to wet climate adaptive public spaces.

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Co losseum

introduce Green boulevards as connecting lines

appia antica

train

Gazometro

Smaller but better park

Expand green Tiber into the urban fabric Make mountain public again

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Introducing green boulevards are a quick-win for the city of Rome. They literally already exist, they only need to be emphasized and designed properly. This way the station Roma Trastevere will be connected with the Colosseum by one big green boulevard, enhancing the opportunity for people to cycle safely. This boulevard has a diagonal towards the Pyramid, connecting the existing and the new Testaccio neighborhood.

In the future Testaccio can get connected with Gazometro, where a new neighborhood can be built, making a North to South connection.

The big landscape structures can connect with a smaller, finer green network of big and small parks. Expanding the green of the Tiber, letting it penetrate in the urban fabric and link with small pocket parks inside Mattatoio. Making the Monte Testaccio public again, as historic sites are attractive places to visit. Re-design the football field into a water square because it is the lowest point. And it is important to connect the station areas with pleasant squares and walking paths and make sure it connects to the bigger green structures.

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GREEN AS STEPPING STONES - PEDESTRIAN FRIENDLY

In total 26% of all the space is designated as car infrastructure.

This is an enormous amount of space which results in large parking spaces and big plots of asphalt. Even the bridge Ponte Testaccio is 27m wide, just PEDESTRIAN/BIKE BLOCKS - LIMITED CAR INFRA for cars. All areas around the station are just reserved for cars.

This decreases the actual use of public transport and doesn’t create a pleasant atmosphere for pedestrians around places that they should dominate.

DIVERSITY IN DWELLING AND OPEN SPACE

WATER RE-USE EN ENRGY PRODUCTION

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PEDESTRIAN/BIKE BLOCKS - LIMITED CAR INFRA

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Why all streets should be designated for cars? In Barcelona, they are upgrading the grid block system into super-blocks. This means that not all streets have car priority, in the Netherlands, this is called PALAZZINA a ‘fietsstraat’. Cars are welcome but the focus is on bikes and pedestrians. This means more space can be made for green, trees, and places where inhabitants can meet.

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The different areas studied around the historic city core have in common that a lot of buildings are empty and/or dilapidating. Some buildings are inefficient and can become much more valuable when they are demolished and restructured. This means working together with the community, municipality, developers, and designers in order to get the best possible solution for new houses, workplaces, and amenities.

By plotting all layers on top of each other you get a robust and well-connected master plan that connects with big natural parks but offers residents private and public parks. The whole structure is built on historical research and uses this to embrace the true colors of the site. Also, public transport is becoming a central role in the way people move around in the area. Existing and new parks can also create a better microclimate, so in summers you have the change to enjoy a milder urban climate.

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Like the Nolli map, Il Nuovo Testaccio is a dialogue between public and private space with high-quality green and smart slow routes. Providing the city with a substantial amount of new housing opportunities.

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6 explanation masterplan: six new urban projects

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Original design and images of the slaughterhouse

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The building that contained the refrigerator is taken over by plants and trees

6.1 Mattatoio nord On top of the ruins of the old harbour district, the slaughterhouse was built. A big industrial complex from just after the Unification, the time Rome became the capital of united Italy.

The former Testaccio Slaughterhouse was built in 1988 at that time it was one of the most advanced of its kind.

It hosted the municipal slaughter from 1890 until 1975, after it is moved to an eastern suburb of the city. After its dismissal as a slaughterhouse, it was used mainly for social and free activities like i.e. the People’s School of Music (Scuola Popolare di Musica). Currently, it hosts, apart from the above-mentioned school, the City of Alternative Economy and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Slowly life is taking shape inside the walls.

The design of Mattatoio is functional in its layout. The pavilions show a simple building system: rectangularly shaped plan volumes, bricks and tuff structure with regular openings, pitched roof coverings supported by “Polonceau� iron trusses. Considered one of the best examples of industrial archaeology in Rome of 19th-century civil engineering, it was dismissed in the seventies, and was since then under different refurbishments for new temporary uses. Nowadays the property of the area is shared between the Municipality and the Roma 3 University.

Given the extremely delicate theme of 19th-century pre-existences and obviously roman archaeology

whereof the subsoil is always rich, between 2001 and 2013 Insula studio coordinated the re-qualification of the entire complex, and also the recovery intervention into a University campus, realizing the feasibility study and the scheme design of the whole area and the pavilions. The project has been conceived as a delicate balance between intervention and preservation, following different approaches: from restoration and preservation to the increase of internal surfaces, along with the demolition of the recent pavilions.

The intervention was carefully aimed to restore and preserve what is left of the original Ersoch project: as well as on the outside, where the facades and the decorations have been philologically restored. https://www.archdaily.com/366253/recovery-of-the-formerslaughterhouse-into-university-campus-studio-insula

A beautiful project which is too careful, little is added in terms of new opportunities and variating program.

In this masterplan, a lot of new program is added to bring life to the area, student housing, new bars, restaurants, and other public facilities. Creating a 24/7 campus rather than just a few beautiful renovated school buildings.

Entrance seen from the river, Ponte Testaccio

Old stables inside the slaughterhouse

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In order to bring the campus to life, the graduation project proposes to build new buildings in the area. Buildings for student housing and affordable housing. Along the Tiber, a new bicycle path is opened and the green of the Tiber can arrive until the University building.

Between the old stables, higher buildings can arise so visually the red line is accompanied by landmarks. This red line is the vibrant boulevard connecting the Station Trastevere with the Colosseum. The original layout of the slaughterhouse is kept and only updated, with new buildings and green public space.

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inserting new buildings, adding program

keep the structure of the stables, add green and housing

renovate old buildings and add housing on top, like teatro Marcello

(Photoshop: before) View towards fro the bridge towards Mattatoio Nord

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Old stables, aerial picture and connection with the river before the riverbanks where build

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The train forms the border on the southside

6.2 Mattatoio sud The Southern side of the complex is the place where the living livestock was delivered and kept in stables.

It has a gate at the side of the mountain and a smaller gate along the water. Furthermore, a grid was used for the distribution of the stables.

Today it is a big open field, used some days of the year for festivals. In the old stables is an art school, Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma. Here students can study and work inside or in the open air. Some places are used as galleries and on the North side, you have a biological supermarket and a small restaurant.

The negative aspects are that the place is very large with a limited program, making it a scary place when it becomes darker. Especially around the train tracks, there are no safe passages and many homeless people build there houses and camps. Also, small buildings mean no shadow and no green. During summer months these big stony areas warm up easily and are becoming unpleasant. Adding a new program should work with the fact that shadow and green should provide a new breeze in the area.

Square used for events

Old buildings with trees

Illigal housing along the Tiber

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housing blocks following the original design of mattatoio Mattatoio Sud is a less active place today and has a lot of open space for housing projects.

There is no connection with the water, the ax is being made along the red arrow, connecting Monte Testaccio with the Tiber.

Enclosed housing blocks are built exactly on top of the old stables. Some stables are kept open to create the necessary open/public space. Inside the blocks are small courtyards that provide shadow and cool places for residence. Again the existing buildings are kept as much as possible, in the south along the train track the structure of the building is kept and a green park connects the river with the ancient Aurelian Wall.

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Using Never build architecture original placed at: Lungotevere Flaminio, Piazza Mancini, Dario Passi 1982

(Photoshop: before) No connection with the Tiber

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Drawing from the middle-ages and old pictures

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Old and dilapidated buildings attached to the mountain

6.3 monte dei cocci Monte dei Cocci, or Monte Testaccio, is a big rubbish hill, an artificial mound made out of broken pots. It is estimated that 53 million amphorae, ancient Roman pottery are inside the hill.

It stands 35 meters high in the very heart of the city.

It formed itself in the proximity of the Tiber, near the Horrea Galbae where the state-controlled reserve of olive oil was stored in the late 2nd century AD. After the arrival at the market, the pots were unloaded and put into smaller pots that could be carried into the city.

The vast number of pots is not only due to the eating habits of Roman people, but olive oil was also the main source of fuel for oil lamps.

Eventually, in the following centuries, people started to discover the cooling capacities of the hill. Due to the porous structure of pots, natural ventilation made it an ideal place to store wine during the heat of the Roman summers. Caves and grottos were dug and used as cellars and stables. Today some of them transformed into restaurants and disco-pubs. It is a popular place for nightlife.

Unfortunately, the hill is closed for the public, leaving a big green park left for nobody. Also, the housing structures around the hill are somewhat dilapidating.

There are beautiful buildings and restaurants, but also less good buildings.

Broken pots

Old buildings and restaurants attached to the mountain

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A beautiful ancient hill is closed 49mpublic, surrounded with from little houses and shacks that are falling apart. On the other hand, you can find beautiful restaurants and interesting places to visit.

In the past the hill has been completely surrounded by buildings, the proposal is to bring this back. The project looked carefully at which buildings could be demolished or restored, in order to create new housing, shops,CO2and workspaces. In the section you can see how the ground floor can stay public with housing on top, having a green view on the hill and public view in the front.

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Jean-Luc Moulene, cutting and carving of objects as and investigating tool

(Photoshop: before) closed facades and little activity, low density and opportunities for new houses107

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Old images of the footballfield

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The footbalfield dilapidated and left for decay

6.4 campo testaccio Campo Testaccio was a multi-use stadium in Rome, Italy. It was initially used as the stadium of A.S. Roma matches, before being replaced by Stadio Nazionale PNF in 1940. The capacity of the stadium was 20,000 spectators. The stadium was rebuilt for use by a local team in 2000, but demolished in 2011.

Around the stadium, more interesting spots can be found. Along Via Marmorata you can find a beautiful building of the firemen, Vigili del Fuoco Distaccamento Cittadino Ostiense. Also along this street is Parco Cestio, a small local playground for children which is closed down. At the back of these places, you can find shacks and barns, that provide limited shelter and decaying houses. Along Via Galvani a high school is located, IPSSS Edmondo De Amicis and some restaurants.

much life except for some tourists who are visiting the peaceful cemetery or a commuter who parked his car in the street. The area is closed off and anonymous without much life. As we look at the landscape the old football field is the lowest point together with the cemetery and pyramid.

On the south side along Via Caio Cestio, a lot of shacks are built for car garages. On the other side of the street, you have the Cimitero Acattolico di Roma, which is closed by a big wall. Creating a dead street without

Shacks and rusty buildings fill up the area around the footballfietld

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CO2

Characteristic for Rome is the relationship between public space and private space on a smaller scale. This has been translated in a contemporary way into the compact urban design that connects with the environment, making the city once again the property of the people, and not of the car.

Currently urban design in Rome is placing loose buildings in a field, instead history tells us more beautiful stories. More beautiful spaces, courtyards, little hidden squares and monumental axes. For the diagonal, inspiration was taken from Via Del Corso, where a very clear sequence of spaces is creating the urban fabric.

The old football field keeps it original shape but gets a new interpretation in and becomes a climate adaptiva water square.

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Sequence of spaces Private to public

Today • loose buildings • no ownership • lack of shadow

update old ideas • semi private routes • ownership • shadow

Via del Corso - Sequence of spaces

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Porta San Paolo and Pyramid of Caius Cestius (12 BC) Rome loves cars, it is like Robert Moses worked in this city. Of course cars are needed and useful, but around Rome, every historic city gate is trashed by it, run-over with asphalt and polluting cars. If the city wants to improve the liveability, the air quality and the green parks the city needs to rethink their relationship with cars.

Since the past beautiful element are loose and scattered, cut out by big car infrastructure roads

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Around the Piramide a great example can be made, connecting new and existing neighborhoods with the station in a pleasant way. Using historic elements to give the route character and beauty. Like a carpet, the cemetery can wrap its green soft trees and grass around the pyramid and old city gate. Setting the stage again for these ancient artifacts and create a robust connection. Little is needed for this intervention but the result can be enormous.

Hidden park

cemetery as (semi) public route

(Photoshop befor) The station area around Porta Sao Paolo, no place for bikes, pedestrian or green

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Due to lack of maintanance the park is full of rubish at all times

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Palazzo delle Poste Rome Ostiense designed by Alberto Libera

6.5 parco della resistenza dell’otto settembre The park is situated in a triangle, between the streets Viale Della Piramide Cestia, Via Marmorata and Viale Manlio Gelsomini. As you can see in the historic maps the park lays on top of the Aventine hill, this hill is split up by a moderate gap, which could mean that this gap is worn in time by an old water stream. The place with less resistance means the most efficient place for a road.

Since the ancient time this road is a vital artery for the city, goods would come from the harbour in Ostia and went up the Via Ostiense road, till the Pyramid of Cestia and Porta Sao Paolo.

The triangular shape was conceived together with the urban development plan of 1883, that, amongst other things, provided for the urbanisation of the whole Aventine Hill, the enlargement of the urbanisation in Testaccio towards Via Marmorata, and of San Saba. It was a district that since then, had been left substantially rural and little inhabited: this allowed to trace the almost straight paths of the present Viale Aventino and Via Della Piramide Cestia.

The Piazza Albania square lies at the vertex of a vast

green triangle (now called Parco Della Resistenza dell’8 Settembre) and is surrounded by buildings erected between the 1930s and the 1960s. In the middle stands out the equestrian monument to George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, the 15th-century national hero of Albania, by the sculptor Romano Romanelli.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_Albania

The park, however, is very big and doesn’t really belong to any neighborhood. It is situated in some left-over space and enclosed by gates. These big open public spaces often decay very slowly, the municipality doesn’t have money to maintain the park and people don’t feel connected to it. The big roads around the park and the lack of maintenance makes it look very worn and unpleasant.

The park is situated in the trench going true the Aventinus hill and connects with the Via Ostiense

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palazzine houses follow the natural landscape As mentioned before the park is actually too big to function properly, it is also too anonymous. By adding houses the park literally gets residents and thus ownership.

These houses follow the natural landscape as is common with Pallazine houses. Inspiration for this community is Villa Riccio, and Garbatella, open to the public during the day but closed in the evening.

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Around Palazzo Della Poste the park can be redesigned with on the lowest point a small theater where people can gather, but 19m also where the run-off water 5m during heavy rain can be buffered. Also, the pathways inside the park make different links with the surrounded areas.

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Pictures of the new station ordered by Mussolini for the great arrival of Hitler

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Historic station with no station square, only car parking

6.6 stazione ostiense Roma Ostiense is a railway station in Piazza Dei Partigiani serving the Ostiense district of Rome, it is a short distance from the Porta San Paolo station.

It is linked with the Piramide Metro B station and the Roma Porta San Paolo station on the Rome-Lido railway line.

During the WWII Mussolini invited Adolf Hitler to visit Rome. Hitler would travel on his famous armoured train and therefore Mussolini ordered to upgrade all the stations along the road, with specific detail to the end station Ostiense to receive the German dictator with grandeur in a monumental station. Also, a new road was built to connect the station with Porta San Paolo, this road was initially named Via A. Hitler but, after World War II, it became Viale Delle Cave Ardeatine.

Italian architect Roberto Narducci designed the station. In addition to being built in the architectural style favoured by Hitler. The station building was inaugurated on October 28, 1940. The entire facade is made of Travertine marble and the entrance is marked by a columned portico.

“Cento Piazze” beautification project.

It is very clear in the area how degrading and decaying public space affects the surrounding. Again this place is not worthy of being in the heart of the city center.

An inspiring classical building as the station deserves a proper square, a place where people feel welcome, can enjoy the building but also be reminded of the past. Passengers should be able to move around in the shadow and a lot of wasted space can be build and densified, improving the connection with the other train and metro stations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_Ostiense_railway_station

The square outside of the station was named Piazzale Dei Partigiani during World War II. Now, the square’s primary function is a bus terminal and parking facility.

Before 1990, however, the piazza was embellished with a well-maintained garden and a now-nonfunctioning fountain that was built in the 1950s as part of the design of the station’s architect Roberto Narducci.

The fountain was inexplicably excluded from the modernisation and renovations for the 1990 World Cup, even though the square was part of the ambitious

Unclear connection with the other train, tram and metro systems

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When visiting the station area it looks like it is not finished. They missed buildings, they never really made a street and plazas are taken over by cars. Again with simple ideas used over and over again in Rome this area can be brought to life. Offices and housing create actual Trans Oriented Development, which means density around stations, the first element that is missing. The glorified stations Ostiense can be brought to life by enclosing it with new housing and office program.

The connection between the stations is now extremely poor and unbearable during summer, with simple but beautiful16m arcades this problem is easily solved, making it a dynamic and vibrant area.

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finish STATION building, give it importance

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arcades for shadow and pleasant walks

(Photoshop: before) Unpleasant connection between the stations, no quality along Viale delle Cave Ardeatine

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7 opportunities for rome

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opportunities As said before, many cities around the world need to look for sustainable solutions to keep their cities liveable. This thesis is projected in Rome but international alliances should look for common interests, ideas and strategies that should be shared.

Also, the way Rome grows today with large speculative apartments, far away from the city center is not unique.

The amount of cars and unhealthy pollution that this creates is also not unique, but this justifies the urgent challenge of this thesis, namely, every city should look for their own individual story to become resilient. in other words, the challenges can be similar as the pragmatic solutions towards these challenges, but what should variate is the narrative. In order to make this narrative the thesis dug deep into the extensive history

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of Rome. From 2500 years of layers and ideas a lot are still relevant and can be re-used. Instead of loose buildings in the Agro Roma, full of car parking and air-conditioning the projects re-uses the quality of the inner-city with dense urban fabric, lots of shadows and cool green courtyards.

To re-use ideas from the past is important to adapt the existing city. New urban areas should take the natural and cultural elements into consideration. Around the world, these natural elements have long been seen as borders and elements that should be tamed, like the Tiber which is in the heart of the city but is called by many ‘the outskirts of the city’. Little people use it.

This thesis proves that on a big scale the city has free and beautiful natural features that can be used to create new routes, but also to provide cool parks and natural habitats for wildlife. In this way, you work with the climate rather than fighting it. For instance, this is

adapt the existing city

work with the climate

internationally done in America, Rebuild by Design.

The Tiber, the Aurelian wall, the train tracks, long boulevards, Monte Testaccio and the Cemeteries. All elements in a small area that can be tied up with each other to give pedestrians and cyclists a better chance of moving around.

The existing city can handle more than we think, it can house much of the needed housing in Rome.

With these new houses, amenities can come, schools, parks, work, and leisure, improving the quality instead of diminishing it as is shown at the beginning of the thesis. But it is important that people see the opportunity of change. Therefore the research with historic maps should be leading, it shows how Rome was able to adapt over and over again. This should be implemented in the strategy of Rome, with respect to the past it is beneficial to adapt the existing city, update it and make it better. In a historic city with great

significance like Rome this is a difficult subject, but unavoidable in order to improve the city.

The problems and climate are ferocious and from this master plan, no miracles can be expected. But this thesis provides more opportunities than random buildings in the Agro Romano. Only the landowners benefit from this type of urban planning, the city however very little. It is time to grasp the real essence of the city and work together to improve it, the city can handle much more than we think.

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Fasing and realisation

2020 The first step of realisation is updating the campus, activating the waterfront and improving the station area. With the improvement of the station area and the way people can walk towards the campus, the area can become much more attractive. Also, buildings on the campus will bring inhabitants and activity.

2025 The route along the Tiber and the diagonal towards the Pyramid can be made to increase the routing possibilities. The Art school in Mattatoio Sud can be upgraded and a lot of housing can be built around the football field, giving extra attention to the public space.

2030 Housing around the Diagonal can be finished, making it a complete neighbourhood. Mattatoio Sud can also be built emphasizing the informal green routes and provide also in this area extra housing. New office buildings can arise near the station area.

2035 The parks can be built, improving the green even more. Monte Testaccio finally opens again towards the public and the route towards Gazometro is re-designed. Gazometro can be another future housing project making this route the next to the Tiber route an important connection.

The realisation of the project can be a mix of traditional urban planning and more grassroots movement, participation project. The neighbourhood is pretty active, this can be used in the advantage of urban development. On the bigger scale, it is important to realise the proposed connection, this needs the determination of the municipality who need to cooperate with the inhabitants. The graduation doesn’t show further how to realise the masterplan, but tried to show the possibilities. The next step is to believe in the possibilities and translate them together into new neighbourhoods and projects.

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acknowledgement

A full year of research has past and I am happy and grateful for the product that came out. I couldn’t have done it without the first 3 years of intensive training at the Academy in Amsterdam, in those years the seeds were planted that resulted in this product.

The past years I had a tremendous amount of help from a lot of people around me. Thanks to all the people this thesis was a beautiful experience, stressful but fulfilling.

In particular, I want to thank my mentor Henk Hartzema who kept me going strong true out the year and who kept me on the right path during research and design.

His sharp eye for every detail didn’t let me wander off to much and kept me focused on a beautiful end result. For every step in the process, he listened and motivated me to push on.

The other committee members, Hiroki Matsuura, and Francesco Garofalo I want to thank for their fresh view on the project, the patient and trust they had in me that this project would turn out in the best possible way.

Many design, visualisation, and storytelling advise came from them.

In Rome, I had an interview with Tom Rankin which gave me a lot of insights and ideas for the development of

my project, thanks for the interview and amazing book you wrote on Rome. Trude Cone helped me with the creative process and reflecting on myself as a person.

Many friends and family members have helped me and listened to my story over and over again, or redirected my text. My family in Italie that provided me with information, housing, love, and the best food in the world when I visited Rome already countless times. Not in any order friends that helped, Jean-François Gauthier, Martijn Hollestelle, Elena Bulanova, Jurian Voets, Jerryt Krombeen, and many more.

The people at Posad-Maxwan (former: Posad Spatial Strategies) That were incredibly patient with me and gave me the space to combine my work with the graduation. It has been a stressful year, but without the support from all my colleagues, it wouldn’t have been possible.

Last off course I didn’t lose my heart once in Rome when I fell in love with the city, but twice because it is also the birth city of Francesca. My love that supported me without a doubt and it keeps amazing me of her passion and love.

Thanks all...

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