REGINA COELI INCLUSIVE NEIGHBORHOOD

REGINA COELI INCLUSIVE NEIGHBORHOOD Urban Refugee Integration in Rome Rome Summer Program, June 18 - Aug 12, 2019 UO Department of Architecture, Professor Hajo Neis, PhD 4/584 Design Studio, 4/507 City of Rome, 4/523 Media

REGINA COELI INCLUSIVE NEIGHBORHOOD Urban Refugee Integration in Rome

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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FOREWORD

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INTRODUCTION

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CITY CONTEXT (AXISES)

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NEIGHBORHOOD CONTEXT

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PATTERN LANGUAGE

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PROJECT LANGUAGE

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URBAN GAMES (1-4)

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PRISON BUILDING RE-USE PROPOSALS

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NEW BUILDING PROPOSALS .

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LUNGARA STREET REDESIGN .

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U.N. REFUGEE DESIGN COMPETITION ENTRY

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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FOREWORD

I want to thank our twelve students, three graduates and nine undergraduates. They are fantastic students, with the heart on the right spot, energy, creativity and lots of determinism. They did an incredibly good job over the course of the UO Rome summer Program. Most impressive, they came through in the final review, not only with their individual building designs, but also with the experimental communal urban design. And to top the list, they also met the deadline on the same day for the International Design Competition 'Cities and Refugees', that includes a wonderful 45 second video expressing the wish for dignity of refugees in a poem.

I also want to thank all of our guest lecturers and reviewers, starting with Pia Katharine Schneider from Rome and ending with Joachim Kieferle from Wiesbaden, Germany.

Thanks to our main reviewers and guest lecturers. They include Giuseppe Strappa, Rome; Antonio Latini, Rome; Tom Rankin, Rome; Howard Davis, Oregon; Ralf Weber, Dresden; Alexander Schmidt, Essen; Ihab Elzeyadi, Oregon; Vicky Kynourgiopoulou, Greece; Grace Aaraj, Lebanon. I am very thankful for all their contributions.

It is also with great pleasure that I can thank Adam Abusukheila, who did a tremendous amount of work in putting the Rome booklet together, so that we all have a wonderful record of this exhilarating summer project in Rome.

Hajo Neis, PhD. Rome Program Director

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The Team.

Upper row (left to right): Adam Abu-Sukheila (editor), Aaron Kennerley, Guiseppe Strappa, Joachim Kieferle, Ivan Castro, Antonio Latini, Hajo Neis, Masako Watanabe, Angel (Chief Engineer) Lopez and Tom Rankin.

Lower row (left to right): Madison Canelis, Adrienne Betchle, Hannah Gerton, Emma Cantor, Christiana Hedlund, Madison Drozd, Flynn Casey and Gemma Fucigna.

Contributors not in photo: Alexander Schmidt, Grace Aaraj, Howard Davis, Ihab Elzeyadi, Julian Watanabe-Neis, Pia K. Schnieder, Ralf Weber and Vicky Kynourgiopoulou.

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A Neis INTRODUCTION

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NARRATIVE INTRODUCTION: REFUGEE INTEGRATION IN THE ETERNAL CITY By Hajo Neis, PhD.

Photo by Adam Abu-Sukheila

This is the story of a design transformation of an outdated but still active prison in the middle of the 'Centro Storico' (historical center) of Rome for the purpose of creating a new progressive neighborhood at the foot of the Gianicolo Hill and next to the Tiber between the traditional Trastevere District and the Vatican. The neighborhood is intended to be designed as an inclusive neighborhood that includes 25-30% refugees or assylants. The narrative starts with a visit to Rome in August of 2018.

Since 1975, I have visited Rome many times, sometimes for months, or weeks, and sometimes only for a few days or over the weekend. During these more than 20 visits over 45 years, I often walked along the Tiber to the Vatican from the area around Piazza Farnese, Pantheon, or Piazza Navona.

And I must have seen a particular yellow plastered building on my walks many times. It feels like a sort of government building, about 100 years old, three stories high, regular window repetition. It is also a location where Via della Lungara and the Mazzini bridge meet perpendicularly in a difficult urban traffic and transportation configuration. At some point I also started to understand that it is a kind of prison administration building: 'Carcere e Djustizia'. But I never saw a prison, and I also was 

not particularly keen on exploring a prison location at any of my previous encounters.

Only in the late summer of 2018, when I was looking for a site for refugee housing and a neighborhood design, I started to get interested in the area behind the mysterious long yellow administration building. First looking on google, I was very surprised to find a gigantic prison area behind the yellow building.

This prison slowly made its way up toward the Gianicolo Hill. Immediately, I went to the site, and found an incredibly large wall behind the pleasant yellow building, accessed on what is called Via della Mantellate. Walking all around the prison, the huge size became palpable, and glimpses of the inner prison buildings were starting to emerge behind the walls at higher levels or different angles and their enormity created a strong impression.

My purpose in August of 2018 was to find a site that was appropriate and interesting enough to accommodate a challenging project for our students, and also could be part of my current main design and research topic of urban refugee integration, and it also had to be a worthwhile urban site for improving the city itself. There was another competing site near the Collosseum and the Celio Mountain next to the Santa Militare compound that I considered, but it did not quite match up to the potential of transforming a prison into an inclusive neighborhood with refugees.

Consequently, the Regina Coeli Prison Site became the place to explore and prepare for the following summer architecture program in Rome in 2019. The different axises, one from the Baroque City over the Mazzini bridge and the prison up to the Gianicolo and the second axis of Via della Lungara from Trastevere to the Vatican crossing perpendicular right at the prison site, made the situation much more exciting, and the question was: what kind of precedents could be found, and what professionals and academics had attempted this challenging urban situation. It was my ISUF colleague, professor Giuseppe

Strappa from the Sapienza University in Rome, who made me aware that there were some attempts made to recreate a functioning axis from Chiesa Nueva via the Mazzini Bridge and up the Gianicolo under Mussolini, but that will come later.

Another critical topic is the form and degree of help in which refugees could be part of Rome's inner 'Centro Storico'.

While the City Hall administration tries to keep refugees at the edge of the city, especially the historic city, it is also true that refugees should be part of the active life of any inner city and not be marginalized to the boundaries of cities. It is also true that European city administrations do not follow any longer the liberal doctrine of letting exclusive districts and neighborhoods for refugees and other foreigners emerge in their cities. Partially this is justified for reasons of the potential of creating terrorist breeding grounds but also it is considered a better integration policy. However, it seems to be quite reasonable and acceptable for the indigenous population to live with and accept socalled 'inclusive neighborhoods' in which a part of the population are refugees (or assylants) within a larger group being the indigenous population.

Recent national politics in Italy have turned to populism and the right, partially because of the huge refugee problem in Europe with Italy at the Mediterranean Sea being one of the main receiving countries of refugees from the war-torn Middle East and Africa. These refugees mostly flee over the Mediterranean Sea from Libya and other North African countries many of them only to drown in the sea because of unsafe boats.

Recently, the new Italian Interior Minister Salvini has forbidden anybody to bring in any refugees into Italian harbors, especially not independent organizations picking up refugees in danger of drowning on open Sea. In July of 2019 he introduced and succeeded in creating a new law that would replace an older law which penalizes ships and ship captains for bringing in refugees to Italian harbors. The old law penalty was Euro 50,000 and seizure of vessel. The new updated law is Euro 1,000,000 plus

seizure of vessel. Here, humanitarian activities are being criminalized in the name of sovereign authority.

Looking back in time, we can observe that the Regina Coeli site itself has a long history, not only in sociopolitical terms but also in spatial urban-architectural terms. Looking at the Nolli Planfrom 1748 for example one can observe a site that is surrounded by the same streets as it is today. There were two convents, one at the lower end right next to the River, which is the Regina Coeli Convent and another smaller one at the top of the site on the lower slopes of the Gianicolo. Here, some buildings still exist, in particular a small chapel at the Northwest corner. At the time of Nolli, the site was covered with gardens, trees and agricultural land feeding Rome. (reference to the Regina Coeli book).

Part of the history of the site, as referred to earlier, is a monumental project attempt by the Mussolini architect Piacentini, who proposed to reconnect the city with the Gianicolo Hill in a grand way. He was the first who, urbanistically and architecturally, proposed to replace the prison with a new urban design of so-called rationalist architecture and urban office buildings and a grandiose park walking up the Gianicolo Hill. A continuation of the Mazzini bridge level led into a new park and into the hill with elaborate stairs and pedestrian paths to complete the connection from Chiesa Nueva to the green hill landscape near Villa Lante. The plan was approved in 1932 and a refined version of the plan was supposed to be build starting in 1942. Initial operations of demolitions and cutting a new path between the Mazzini Bridge and Chiesa Nuova into the medieval structure leave urban scars until this day. Only the war prevented this large monumental project to be realized and create further urban fabric damage. As we will see in the second part of this introductory narrative, our approach in some ways follows similar ideas of connecting the city from Chiesa Nuova to Gianicolo, but we also do it in a dramatically different fashion and in a more modest and huminstic way. 

TRANSFORMING THE REGINA COELI PRISON INTO AN INCLUSIVE URBAN NEIGHBORHOOD The University of Oregon Summer Program in Rome consists of three classes for an eight week period: 1. An Architecture Studio Design Project.

2. A Theory/History Course that we called 'City of Rome' CoR. 3. A Hand Media Course.

The instructors rotate year by year with new faculty members, new ideas and new projects. This year it was my second rotation. This time with a project for refugees in the old city of Rome. The primary class is the design studio around which media and history/theory are organized, particularly in this project with an actual real contemporary challenge and focus on refugee urban integration.

The students, who selected the summer program and the refugee topic consist of 12 class members, 3 graduate students, and 9 undergraduate students who just finished their second year of architecture education, including 3 interior architects, 5 males and 7 females, and some with refugee connections. In the first several introductory meetings in the hometown of Eugene, Oregon, I started to explain some of the topics presented in part one of this introduction and I also presented some of the essential design techniques, methods and philosophical points that we would work with in the studio and in the CoR seminar.

These include my analysis of the Rome situation with regard to the Regina Coeli site and the current refugee situation in Rome.2 It includes the application of the Pattern Language Theory and Practice that is being taught at the University of Oregon3. It also includes some other methods and techniques that have been first developed by Christopher Alexander, Hajo Neis, Howard Davis and other members of the Center for Environmental Structure (Berkeley, US and Binsted, UK) such as 'The Urban Game' (method inspired by A New Theory of Urban Design, ANTUD.v) 

In order to involve everybody from the start of this project, the first exercise while still in Eugene, Oregon, was to make each student responsible for studying one particular building or building wing of the Regina Coeli prison complex and report back to the group. The second exercise consisted of defining criteria and principles that would be helpful for building a solid urban neighborhood for today. The third exercise was closer to home, as we discussed which kinds of patterns (from the book A Pattern Language) might be helpful for developing an urban neighborhood that includes 25% -30%refugees and 65%-70% Rome inhabitants. This was the birth of our pattern language that we continued to develop throughout the project not only for the neighborhood but also for the design of the individual buildings, spaces, smaller urban elements, and of course housing and support functions for refugees and others. Another assignment was to read initial chapters of the ANTUD book, that works with a new communal urban design process.

Urban Design (two weeks)

With the move from Eugene, US, to Rome, IT, and the beginning of the summer program 2019, students were very energetic, but also some of the younger students were a bit overwhelmed by the experience of probably the most historic Western City with its many layers of history and architecture structures. Furthermore, the historic City of Rome and its 'Centro Storico', which is only a small fraction of Modern Rome in its administrative boundaries of today, is strictly regulated by social understanding and agreement of the value of historic preservation and the process of 'structure preserving transformations.' This understanding is enforced by design rules that prescribe how to design and build appropriately in such a multi-layered historic context (starting with particular colors and materials that are permissible). The historic part of Rome is mostly defined by the Aurelian Walls within which one isn't to take down any building without strict inspections and approval by the building authorities. (Roman authorities)

In spite of these strict rules, and my partial approval of these rules, the first exercise in our Design Studio was to determine how many of the prison buildings we wanted to take down in order to make enough space for the design of a new inclusive urban neighborhood. Although, as pointed out, you cannot take down any building without approval by the city, the argument that I used in this case goes as follows: An outdated prison in terms of spatial and social development, may as well be placed and relocated outside of the Aurelian Walls to make place for more effective and rich functions and spaces in this very valuable piece of earth. Prisoners who can neither enjoy the beautiful environment nor can they enjoy modern progressive prison development and appropriate design at this location, may as well be provided with a progressive modern social program at a much better location and new buildings outside of the'Centro Storico' (What would Pope Frances think of this argument? He also loves prisoners and at one public meeting kissed prisoners' feet inside the Regina Coeli Prison) For historic preferences we also kept two major prison buildings, only modernizing the interiors of the buildings and keeping the prison museum in one of the buildings. One of these two is the mysterious yellow building.

Before we continue with focus on the design process, we need to try to understand better what we mean by an inclusive urban neighborhood, and what we mean by an inclusive urban neighborhood with 25% to 30% refugee inhabitants. In its best form an inclusive urban neighborhood with refugees may be described as the refugees being integrated and do not have to listen to the word refugee anymore. The process that leads to such a desirable state then is the focus of our attention:

In order to make progress on the question of the character of the new neighborhood, it is worthwhile to mention that the first idea of 'refugee housing in the eternal city' was superseded by the idea of an inclusive mixed-use urban area that also serves the refugee population. This was partially done because of the large size and potential of our site, and also because of better use of our site in a rather attractive location. While a housing area can be developed by one developer and one architecture office with similar designs (we tested one example based on the San Saba housing complex in Rome), a mixeduse urban area by character should include a range of different buildings designed by different architects to create what we may call variety in unity as we know from many mixed-use urban areas world-wide, including the mixed-use areas that we see in Rome such as in the area around Campo de Fiori or Piazza Cinque Scole. Rather than having one person or one company design the full urban neighborhood geometry and then develop one building in more detail architecturally, it seemed more effective to let the urban structure be designed by the whole group with 12 architecture student and one urban design and architectural curator in a communal and dynamic fashion. And while the pattern language approach would provide such a process, it seemed more appropriate in this case to apply first the urban growth method described in A New Theory of Urban Design ANTUD supported by patterns and pattern language.

A. Regular integrated neighborhood B. Regular inclusive neighborhood C. Inclusive neighborhood with refugees D. Refugee neighborhood "Gather Round". Photo by Adam Abu-Sukheila

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"Hands on the Table". Photo and edit by Adam Abu-Sukheila

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Illustration by Christiana Hedlund.

city CONTEXT

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Bird's view of Neighborhood. Courtesy of Google Earth.

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Bird's view of Existing Prison. Courtesy of Google Earth.

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VATICAN CITY

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REGINA COELI NEIGHBORHOOD

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LUNGOTEVERE ROAD

PONTE MAZZINI BRIDGE

CHIESA NUOVA

The understanding of the site came about by analyzing its con nection to the city and neighborhhood through two major axises.

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GIANICOLO HILL

Figure X: Aerial View of Neighborhood.

Courtesy of Google Earrth

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Original Axis

GIANICOLO HILL - CHIESA NUOVA AXIS Adam Abu-Sukheila, Adra Betchle, Madison Canelis, Madison Drozd

CHIESA NUOVA

The purpose of analyzing the axis is to understand how the prison site could become more integrated into the urban fabric. With a bridge leading straight to the prison, it's also important to understand strategies to handle such a strong urban direction.

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Feeling Map Diagram

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Trastevere - Vatican Axis

Gemma Fucgina, Emma Cantor, Aaron Kennerly, Hannah Gerton

Feelings Map

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FRAMING WITH COMMERCE

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Illustration by Gemma Fucigna

neighborhood CONTEXT

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NEIGHBORHOOD CONTEXT Neighborhood Anaylsis composed by Angel Lopez, Flynn Casey, Ivan Castro and Christiana Hedlund

Figure X: Aerial View of Regina Coeli Prison. Courtesy of Google Earrth

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BLOCK SIZES

Block Size Study. Graphic composed by Angel, Christiana, Flynn, and Ivan

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SURROUNDING BUILDING SIZES

Building Size Study. Graphic composed by Angel, Christiana, Flynn, and Ivan

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Building Size Constellation.

Graphic composed by Angel, Christiana, Flynn, and Ivan

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Illustration by Emma Cantor.

pattern LANGUAGE

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ACCLIMATION STRUCTURE ACCLIMATION STRUCTURE

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due to barriers in the understanding of language, culture, and ways of life.

The current refugee crisis has displaced nearly 20 million people from their homes in search of safety and protecion. Refugees entering any new country are leaving behind their lives and starting from scratch. They are having to adapt to a foreign culture, language, and to overcome on their own. Currently, systems are in place in some countries to help with this, but more are needed in every country.

* * * To aid refugees in acclimating to their host country a structure of support services must be set up.This system should include health services (physical & mental), classes on language, the country (Italy), and eveyday life in that location, and other orientation resources.The support structure needs to tackle the complex needs of refugees arriving from war torn countries, and provide them the support needed to start fresh.

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COUNTRY IN THE CITY

LOCAL LOCALYOUTH YOUTHPARTNERSHIP PARTNERSHIP

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FRAMING FRAMINGWITH WITHCOMMERCE COMMERCE

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sense of community between residents.

Young male and female citizens are not able to afford a place near the city center due to the high cost of living and the low-income jobs available to them.

Without commerce, nonresidents have little reason to enter neighborhoods that are not on their communte. Inhabitants of the area are forced to leave for all necessary purchases and are also less likely to interact with eachother, with little incentive to hangout on the streets. Commerce that frames a neighborhood promotes nonresidents to spend time in the area and connects it to the adjacent neighborhoods. It supports residents ability to sell goods, therefore creating a self-sustaining community. By having retail on the edge of an area, it allows the central spaces to be prioritized for the community. In the case of creating a neighborhood for refugees, these ideas are crucial. This pattern creates a place that they can live integrated with the new culture, while still allowing them to stay close to home.

Living close to the city center is rapidly becoming unaffordable to most young citizens. This pushes the youth to the city edge, which not only limits their potential to contribute due to long commutes and cost effectiveness but also affects the diversity that creates a succesful urban fabric. However, young people have a great potential to help integrate refugee communities by relating with the incoming youth and by offering support to refugee families and single parents though social services such as childcare.

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Framing commerce creates a neighborhood border, while providing a sense between buyer and seller, as well as employment opportunity.

* * * Local youth can play an important supporting role in the reintegration of refugee families and other young refugees by offering help in exchange for home subsidy.

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CRAFTING COMMUNITY COMMUNITY CRAFTING

Therapy Garden THERAPY GARDEN

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Many refugees coming to Rome may lack a traditional education or a profession making it challenging to assimilate and provide a living for themselves and their families.

Often, when refugee’s enter into a new culture, they experience not only culture shock but also are in need to recover from the trauma they have escaped. Not only is there a lack of green space in Rome, but also a lack of therapeutic activities and public gardening spaces.

Refugees who come from developing countries may not have the education or the skills necessary for more professional jobs in Italy. Often though, these refugees come from countries rich in unique artisanal traditions such as weaving, ceramics, carving, and painting. By providing the materials and a place for making, refugees can continue producing the crafts of their home country in Italy. Working on traditional crafts can strengthen refugees connection to their roots, pass along cultural skills to the young, and provide a means of income for those on the periphery of society.

A therapy garden is an outdoor garden space that has been specifically designed to meet the physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs of the people using the garden as well as the community around them. Connection to nature is so essential to maintain in a time of trauma because it is a connection to people’s health and wellbeing. Therapy gardens have been proved to decrease stress levels along with reduction of pain, and improvement in attention.There needs to be a therapeutic space for refugees to come together and heal as a community while still not being entirely separated from their new culture.

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* * * By creating a community of crafts people, refugees have a way of stay ing connected to their culture, forming community, and earning an income through their unique artisanal goods.

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A therapy garden will not only help the healing process of the refugee’s but also be an aesthetic aspect of the neighborhood. It is a place where new beginnings can be made and a step towards growing into the new community.

PLAYGROUND IN VIEW VIEW PLAYGROUND IN

HOME HomeCOMFORT Comfort

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Neighborhoods that lack playgrounds are less inclusive of children, thus families. Because of the potential dangers on the street, it may not be safe for children to play outside, far away from their homes. So, even if there is a neighborhood playground, if it is far away from family homes there is still a problem.

Playgrounds are often considered unimportant (McKendrick, 1). But neighborhoods need them because they are where children from different backgrounds can meet and form friendships (Dewi, 225). Putting a playground anywhere does not work, it must be in view of parents or supervisors so younger children can use it. Putting a playground by a cafe or restaurant works, but that is only an occasional or situational playing area.

Dewi, S. P. (2012). How Does The Playground Role in Realizing Children-Friendly-City? Procedia - Social and Behav ioral Sciences,38, 224-233. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.03.344 McKendrick, J. H. (1999). Playgrounds in the Built Environment. Built Envrionment,25(1). Retrieved June 30, 2019, from https://search.proquest.com/openview/1875066377d8c9d28118ab4239fe6a68/1?pq-origsite=g scholar&cbl=1817159.

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Create a residential block with a private court featuring a playground and covered benches. The playground should not be in the middle, as this would obstruct the space, but it should be in view of the benches. The benefit of having the playground inside the court is security, in addition to visibility.

Bringing Refugees into a community with no essence of their culture or place of community can lead to discomfort and sever culture shock

Arriving in a new country and city can be daunting to a refugee as they are dealing with a new culture, language, and environment. Being thrown out of your home without warning takes a mental toll.These experience can only be felt and understood by refuges themselves.

Giving them an opportunity to share their stories with those from similar experiences is very beneficial. They need places to connect back to there roots and socialize with others

* * * Empowering refugees to integrate into their new homes and obtain the skills necessary to become comfortable and integrated through the building of community centers at the heart of it all.

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ENVIRONMENTAL METRIC Environmental Metric

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WEDGED WEDGEDTERRACES TERRACES

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A continuous row of residential buildings lack an established outdoor space that can connect to the street and the inner courtyard simultaneously.

The mindset of refugee families towards environmental education is viewed as inessential due to the demanding pressures of poverty.

Protected outdoor social spaces can be powerful in establishing a dedicated space where residents of connected buildings can gather in fresh air. Ideally, this is to serve only those who have private access to adjacent buildings. The Iowa State University building in Rome has a wedged terrace that successfully establishes a space where neighboring buildings can gather. The nature of being wedged between buildings emphasizes on the formal aspect of having a dedicated, elevated gap along a series of buildings. Since this is a terrace, it allows people to look out onto the street below and to look down into the courtyard on the other end. Wedged terraces will only function well when placed within buildings that have a strong sense of closure on at least one side.

* * By the establishment of a wedged terrace, the architect is immediately creating a dedicated social space where neighbors can simultaneously gather and feel connected to the street and the inner courtyard.

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The refugee’s arrive from countries that have been designated as unsafe by a federal policy. In terms of education, refugee’s origin countries lack the essential infrastructure to provide educational resources for all ages of society. The lack of government funding for education leads to limited amounts of secondary schools. In turn, students who live far need to walk longer distances in order to attend secondary school.

When you add poverty, they start to see work over a high education. By designing dwelling that also act as an educational metric will encourage children to continue pursuing a higher education. This can be done through architectural features and design techniques that emphasis educational information. An example can be the collection of on site gray water that then can be filtered and used for either black water or irrigation.

Creating curiosity within children to learn more.

* * * Creating a collaborative learning neighborhood through the use of architectural features will support refugee children in their learning expansion.

WATER WaterREGENERATION Regeneration

ACOUSTIC BARRIERS BARRIERS ACOUSTIC

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The lack of nature and water in peoples lives has created unheathy enviornments.

Areas along street fronts are polluted with vehicle noise making such spaces Scanned with CamScanner unpleasant to occupy.

In Middle Eastern countries and several African countries, water is viewed as an oasis and relief to the intense heat of these regions. Due to the rejuvenating power of water, it is commonly used in fountains across cities of these regions which makes it easily accessible.

In our site with refugees from these regions, they are used to water fountains providing relief from the heat. Some of these refugees are religiously involved in Muslim practices in which fountains are also seen as sources of spiritual purity.

When pedestrian spaces are located adjacent to those occupied by vehicles uncomfortable noise levels are experienced. The heightened noise levels are problematic because they make traffic seem more iminent and therefore more dangerous. Additionally, the presence of unwanted noises makes the pedestrian spaces less pleasant to occupy and the enjoyment and usability of such areas is greatly reduced. The addition of physical barriers between pedestrians and vehicles protects users from undesirable noise conditions.

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Having these fountains play a fundamental role in their lives spiritually and physically, allows the residents to gain a sense of comfort, and feel comfortable in the new refugee housing complex.

Creating a barrier (built/landscape/vegetation/etc) between pedestrians and vehicles would result in more acoustic privacy, helping to establish a usable space.This separation would reduce pedestrians’s exposure to vehicular noises which may be disruptive or unsafe.

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"Tourists for a Day". Photo and edit by Adam Abu-Sukheila

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Illustration by Ivan Castro..

project LANGUAGE

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INNER Inner MOBILITY Mobility

GUIDING EDGE GUIDING EDGE

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The city of Rome is known for it’s streets that serve’s pathways for both pedestrians and vehicles.This creates a problem for pedestrians experience through the site.

Buildings with sharp corners often discourage entry onto secondary streets. with CamScanner The corner building’s interference with natural Scanned walkways and views makes such spaces significantly less inviting.

When Rome’s population increases, so will the number of automitive vehicles in the street. This

Corner buildings may cut off access to perpendicular streets making it difficult to realize or occupy them. Abrupt (90 degree) street turns do not encourage entry and the presence of introverted buildings on corners only emphaizes this issue. Buildings which are not shaped to guide pedestrians often result in unoccupied spaces and lifeless streets.

refugee’s to gather and interact with one another. In order to control the drawback of having motor vehicles park at the piazza, the pathways are designed to encourage residents to walk. Motor the site.

* * * By creating walkable pathways designed around the resident’s, it will encourage refugee’s to interact with one another, creating share spaces, a healthy neighborhood and business activity.

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* * * In order to make side streets more accessible buildings located on corners should incorporate angles that gently guide pedestrians. Avoiding sharp corners and establishing a gradual entry will reinforce natural walking paths and create open space which can be used for gathering or to ease the transition of changing direction.

PEDESTRIAN ACCESS PEDESTRIAN ACCESS

REFUGEE REFUGEE INTEGRATION INTEGRATION

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The current site is completely walled in with few passages to connect the site to the main street making it hard for pedestrians to walk freely through and around block.

Refugee-only housing complexes keep refugees separate from the local community and can leave the residents vulnerable to discrimination. These complexes also stand out as refugee housing projects, so they can be targets for local anger towards refugees.

The site is situated on a large parcel of land that is walled completely around the perimiter making it inaccessible to the public. The wall serves the purpose for the current program, a prison, but is poses issues for our new proposed site design as a mixed use neighborhood with housing for refugees and local Italians. By creating streets that are pedestrian only streets we can create safe spaces for people to walk, lounge, and interact without the interference of heavy traffic. By making openings and removing portions of the wall we can create passages into the site from multiple locations, making the site accessible from multiple angles.

If refugees do not feel like they are a part of their community they will have a harder time integrating into their new home. Because of complex political situations involving mid to low income countries taking in refugees, locals sometimes feel resentment and even anger towards refugees, even though these political issues are not their fault. By bringing refugees into the same housing complex as locals, they can socialize and learn more about each other.

This helps both demographics feel more at ease with each other.

By strategically creating openings in the wall, creating pedestrian only streets, and by reopening through streets adjacent to the site we will be able to create a site that is easy to navigate and pleasant to walk through.

Create an apartment complex where refugees and locals are next door neighbors, including more than one type of refugee family.

* * *

* * *



SECURE PLAYGROUND SECURE REFUGEE REFUGEE PLAYGROUND

* * * Playgrounds are important for all neighborhoods, but they are especially important for refugee neighborhoods that include unaccompanied minors.

Children who flee their country without their parents need to be watched carefully to ensure their safety, but they still need to play.

Playgrounds may not seem like a basic requirement, but they are crucial to childhood social and physical development. Because unaccompanied minor refugees have a higher need for supervision than most children, they need an especially secure place to play.

Without a playground the children have no good place to get exercise. Children need a place to get out their excess energy, or they can become restless. Children who need to be carefully supervised need special playgrounds where they can play without being out of sight.

* * * Firstly, create a secure building for unaccompanied refugee minors. Then put a playground in a secure court, so that the children have a private playground where they can be supervised.

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GLIMPSES COMMUNITY GlimpseINTO into Community

* * * Many neighborhoods do not consider its surrounding context and its axis connecting it to the city it is located in. Neighborhoods also block themselves off, making pedestrians walk past, not knowing there is a whole community that is waiting to be explored. If there is a small glimpse into the community, this will intrigue bystanders to come in and see what the neighborhood has to offer.

A glimpse into a community has to just that, a glimpse. It is there to spark wonder and connect the neighborhood back to the axis. The glimpse can be a small alleyway or a passage through a building with a view of something intriguing and an integral part of the community space. This will attract pedestrians and make them want to know what is inside. It will also feel as if the person is discovering the space.

* * *

In this specific project, there will be a pathway through the therapy building into the therapy garden and the rest of the neighborhood. The passageway will connect to the Chiesa Nuova axis and connect to the garden that is just a short walk up the hill. It will be a way for the street to have direct access to the garden and have views of the interior of the neighborhood.

Framed Views FRAMED VIEWS

COMMUNAL LIVING ZONES COMMUNAL LIVING ZONES

Framed Views

* * *

* * *

Many paths restrict views for the pedestrian, making navigation difficult in dense urban enviornments.These paths are often seen to have no direction paths restrict views for the pedestrian, making navigation difficult and often avoided.

Many in dense urban enviornments.These paths are often seen to have no direction an open side of a path, or making it more visible by removing disruptive objects, and oftenCreating avoided. can help someone navigate easier by knowing which direction they are heading towards to their destination. Framing specific views can be memorable to the pedestrian and create a place in which someone may stop and admire the specific view.

Creating an open side of a path, or making it more visible by removing disruptive objects, can help someone navigate easier by knowing * * which * direction they are heading towards to their destination.

Framing specifi c views can be memorable to the pedestrian and create a If the sides of buidings were connected to paths that frame certain views and simplify navigation, as a pedestrian become easier and place in which someone maythen stoptravelling and admire the specifiwould c view. more enjoyable.

* * * If the sides of buidings were connected to paths that frame certain views and simplify navigation, then travelling as a pedestrian would become easier and more enjoyable.

* * * Single women and single mother refugees require extra support from each other to be able to safely and easily acclimate to their new surroundings.

Scanned with CamScanner

Many women are forced to come alone or with children to a new country as refugees.

Many of these women are not used to the financial burden of being the sole caretaker for themselves and their children. They arrive in a new country not knowing the language or the culture, and are then immediatly required to support themselves and their children. It is through their housing that they can begin to create a community among themselves and support each other. With shared living spaces mothers can watch children and cook for multiple families. Friendships and support systems are created through everyday interaction.

* * * Single women and single mother refugee housing should have individual units with shared kitchens and terraces between them. This allows the women to support each other in their community.

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REVEALED EDGE Revealed SOCIAL Social Edge

PROTECTED ProtectedPLAYGROUND Playground

* * *

* * *

Solid walls create imposing, inhospitable environments for social interaction.

Scanned with CamScanner Instead of fostering contact between people, they inhibit it through physical barriers.

Bringing kids into a new country without the essence of childhood innocence and playfulness can lead to sadness and struggle in the transition process

When an area is surrounded by walls very little social interaction can take place along the edge. This zone of space around the perimeter is where most people prefer to inhabit.

Therefore, by placing a wall in this location, essential community interactions are prevented from occuring. This social separation damages the community and the neighborhood as a whole.

Unaccompanied refugee minors are some of the most vulnerable emotionally and psychologically. Creating a space from them requires high security and numerous transitional services.These security measures can make it feel as though the kids are trapped and confined to a bubble. In order to avoid this a space for kids to act as normal kids can be developed as a center point in the space that is still protected

* * *

* * *

In order to foster community interactions walls should be taken down to open up the edges of spaces. Buildings should then be set back from the street to create wide sidewalks and small social squares for people to inhabit.

At the heart of the courtyard a protected playground can be built surrounded by lively colors and interactive elements to give the kids a place of there own creating an environment that feels like a home away from home

Illustration by Angel Lopez

urban GAME

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URBAN GAME ONE First, it was based on an initial exercise of prison building elimination making space for new buildings and a new urban neighborhood. It was also based was based on a rather reduced set of rules of ANTUD that worked for a previous project quite well, and that is recorded in a short video in 2010. The main rules of the game have to do with piece-meal growth, structure preserving transformations, the creation of positive space, structuring wholes, rules for design of 4-5 story buildings, construction rules, and urban geometry (centering process). The first game that people attempt is usually not the best, and it needs a few rounds before everybody understands how to use the rules and be successful at it. This first game was recorded and shown in our previous reviews. The sequence of these games have been recorded in detail with notes so that one can get an understanding of an urban piecemeal growth where buildings create the larger urban structure and not only large urban planning.

Figure 1: Urban Game One hand-written records of each game decision. (recorded by Adam Abu-Sukheila)

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Urban UrbanGame Game1 1

Urban Games explained by Hajo Neis, PhD.

Figure 1: Urban Game One Process (Graphic composed by students)

The second Urban Game was based on the same limited rules but it was also based on a much larger level of prison building elimination, only leaving the yellow front building in position so that the main entrance building to the new neighborhood was left in place according to the Roman urban rules for the'Centro Storico', This game was played without the curator so that students got a sense of what it means through own group experience. It was noted that some of the experienced designers tended to take over, and it also showed that more than one prison building might be helpful for a next round, because it helped to create stability and centeredness in the design structure of the neighborhood. Furthermore, the use of the heavy prison wall for design and building purposes became a matter of interest. An exercise in between, where everybody should create his or her own inclusive urban neighborhood, showed that may designs were allotted along the external walls of the prison. In addition, this game also started to indicate the growing complexity of this urban game, and consequently a simplification was put into place.

Figure 1: Urban Game Two hand-written records of each game decision. (recorded by Hannah Gerton)

Urban Game 2

Urban Game 2

URBAN GAME TWO

Figure 3: Urban Game Two Process. Graphic composed by students.



In Urban Game three, architects, owners and participants (all roles played in some way by the individual students concurrently), were asked to respect the main axis towards the hill connection, that was established on Via delle Mantenella and up the hill. Second, in this game, design participants could make proposals wherever they wanted to design and build an important function for mixed use, housing, and refugees on the site. This simplified process in essence turned out to create the beginning of the main plan for the new neighborhood.

Since people made a number of proposals for new buildings on the same overlapping location, part of the game was to negotiate and find other locations that would work for the larger plan.

This plan is recorded in the mid-review urban model and individual mid-term designs. Urban Game 4 then became the game of negotiations and adjustments, improvements, and refinement as well as full designs of individual buildings. It is recorded in the final review model and to some degree in the urban site plan with all individual ground floor plans of each building included, creating an urban plan that starts to give an initial idea of the emerging urban structure.

Urban Game 3

URBAN GAME FOUR (final)

Urban Game 3

URBAN GAME THREE (midterm)

Figure 2: Site Model. Photographed by Adam Abu-Sukheila

Figure 2: Urban Game Three Process. Graphic composed by students.



Figure 2: Massing Site Plan. Graphic composed by students.

before and after.

Figure 2: Final Site Plan Overlaid on Image. Courtesy of Google Earth. Composed by students.



end result.

Final Site Plan in Muratori-Style. Composed by students.



adaptive re-use PROPOSALS Illustration by Adam Abusukheila.



REGINA COELI NEIGHBORHOOD PRISON REHABILITATION Iván Castro | Arch 584 | Hajo Neiss

Architecture has a big impact on the way cities remember their own history and how they shape their future. Transforming one of the main prision housing units into a mixed-use residential building with communal spaces can serve as a symbolic invitation to new communities into the heart of Rome.

RESPONSE TO NEW URBAN FABRIC In order to fit with the new site plan, one of the sides was removed, opening the atrium to the new adjacent piazza.

CLEAR TOWER CEILING ROOF REHABILITATION

REHABILITATION THROUGH MATERIALITY Restoring the roof and adding a new connection to the piazza offers a historical contrast with the original walls of the building.

CONTEMPORARY MATERIALS

PRIVATE RESIDENTIAL SPACES

PUBLIC PIAZZA AT THE HEART

DISTRIBUTION OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPACES The building is opens to the piazza though communal spaces while mantaining a more private residential area on the back.



COMMUNITY GATHERING SPACES

COUNTRY IN THE CITY

SECTION A-A’ SCALE: 1’ = 1/32”

100 m2

DIVERSE SIZES FOR DIVERSE FAMILIES Through variation of the existing 2.7m x 5.2m cell module, apartments of diferent sizes and orientations can be achieved, promoting diversity and offering an alternative to different types families

70 m

2

90 m2 90 m2 80 m

2

90 m

2

100 m2 80 m2

SECTION B-B’ SCALE: 1’ = 1/32”



St. Francesco Di Sales Housing Flynn Casey At the Northwest corner of the Regina Coeli prison stands a cluster of yellow buildings organized around a small 17th century church.

Originally a monestary, the is home to some of the oldest buildings in the prison complex. the site was adapted into a womens prison in 1884, and then to a guard’s barracks in the 1960s. This projects seeks to adapt the site once more, into a small community of italians and refugees alike, primarily re-purposing buildings rather than adding or subtracting.



FLYNN PAGE 2 At the heart of this project lies a structural intervention: the insertion of a new, steel structure to replace some of the existing bearing wall construction. In adition to making this housing more seismically resilliant, this steel structure will open up longer spans, creating more flexible, adaptable spaces for contemporary housing. This flexibility is important, especially in the case of less conventional refugee families. The steel structure will also provide external circulation around the courtyard on each level, unifying the building cluster similar to the ways in which some Roman pallazzos are formed through the aggregation of buildings around a block. This circulation also provides valuable shading for the balconies around the courtyard, which are predominantly exposed to the south.



GUARDIANO DELLA REGINA COELI REGINA COELI INCLUSIVE NEIGHBORHOOD :: ROME :: IT ADAM ABU-SUKHEILA :: HAJO NEIS Facing the most public urban street, this repurposed prison administration building serves as the physical and perceptual guardian of this neighborhood. Guardiano weaves itself into the urban fabric, in hopes to promote safer, cleaner and more efficient pedestrian, biker, and car mobility.

The building nestles itself into the rising themes of living-system programming, and equitable entreprenuership. This is where different commercial spaces can share the waste and production of one another. Where more equitable and progressive office spaces become available for professionals of the future. Finally, integration with a new street design has made it possible for this building to function both publically yet privately, serving all.

North SECTION

SECTION South

SITE PLAN :: NTS



STRAIGHTSHOT A

CROSS-STREET CLIMB B

PEDESTRIAN STREET C

Establishing a simple, direct connection from Lungotevere main road and Via della Lungara Road will allow for safer and more efficient pedestrian, bike, and car transportation.

A stair that connects the two major roads vertically for pedestrians, making it possible to traverse on the Southern most side.

A 30 foot wide street dedicated to pedestrians, scooters, bikers, and handicap transport vehicles linking the Southeast area of the neighborhood to the historic Via Della Lungara

Problem :: Solution

Problem :: Solution

Winding street from Lungotevere down to Via Della Lungara is too tight for most cars to do a 180 degree turn. It is also too tight at end of winding road to make one-point turn. Only drivers who know this road will understand how to make a proper turn around.

Lack of vertical pedestrian circulation on Southern connection between Via Della Lungara and Lungotevere, current stair system only serves pedestrians walking from the north side of either road.

A straightshot road that replaces the existing winding road and the existing main stair. The substructure of the new straightshot will reuse the bricks and stone that were demolished from the old road, stair, and retaining wall. The road will allow for side parking, bike parking, and a direct connection to a pedestrian stair.

A steel and stone staircase that overlooks the new landscaping and straightshot road. This stair hugs the existing building along the South in order to create an elegant edge to the new urban front design.

Problem :: Solution Extreme amounts of waste being sent to natural habitats, damaging and threatening the future of our environment and us, since we rely on our environment for food, materials, and protection.

Circular waste system where the waste from the restuarant, bakery, and cafe are given to the "Re-Furniture" studio where they use the waste to create materials for the craft of recycled and repurposed furniture. This furniture gets sent back to the restuarants.

  

  

 







ELEVATION East

FLOOR PLAN G :: 1/32"

FLOOR PLAN L2 :: 1/32"

FLOOR PLAN L1 :: 1/32"

PEDESTRIAN CAVITY D

BRIDGE TO GAURDIANO E

WASTE WASTE WASTE! F

SLINKY OFFICES G

A BIKER'S PARADISE H

Gutting out the first three units of the ground floor in order to relieve spatial urban pressure and provide a larger entry into the front area of the Regina Coeli neighborhood.

The overpowering axis lining with Ponte Gianicolo and the Gianicolo statue at the upper hill area made it so important to establish a continuation of the existing bridge, this time for pedrestrians. It is more a matter of symbolism and visual connection than anything else.

"One man's waste is another man's treasure." Yet, in this case, not only is the first man's waste becoming the second man's treasure, the first man's waste is being returned to the first man as treasure.

Slinky offices are working spaces that have the physical ability to expand laterally. This system provides dentists, lawyers, and other professional entreprenuers with an office that can expand or shrink.

Integrating mobility into the building design requires a deep connection between modes of transport and building functions on the ground level.

Problem :: Solution The tight space between the retaining wall of the Lungotevere and the Gaurdiano's edge creates a build up of spatial pressure that is discomforting when pedestrians, cars all try to share a 14 foot wide road. Additionally, temperatures rise in the coming years requires greater need for shade in sunny urban areas.

Like any cavity, it is meant to serve as shelter from the cramped street and the extreme summer sun. It is accompanied by a gelato store as a prime attraction for the shaded cavity space.

Problem :: Solution The significance of the Cheisa Nuova axis pressures a need for a axial continuation.

A physical and symbolic gesture of the axis which already exists between Chiesa Nuova and the Gianicolo hill. This will also bring in pedestrian traffic from the upper level if one doesn't want to walk on the lower Via Della Lungara.

Problem :: Solution Extreme amounts of waste being sent to natural habitats, damaging and threatening the future of our environment and us, since we rely on our environment for food, materials, and protection.

Circular system where waste from the restuarant, bakery, and cafe are given to the "Re-Furniture" studio where they use the waste to create materials for the craft of recycled and repurposed furniture. This furniture gets sent back to the restuarants at a much-reduced cost compared to other new furniture.

The furniture store and studio also supplies the entire building with subisidized furniture in hopes of stimulating attraction to this new form of economic enterprise.

Problem :: Solution The rising cost of living in urban cities makes it difficult for early professionals to find oppertunities to begin their own businesses.

Through the lowered expense of fully reusing the entirety of the existing building, office space becomes a reality.

Problem :: Solution Lack of dedicated center for bikers to meet hinders the ability for biking culture to grow in a car and moped city like Rome.

Designing a bakery+restuarant that supports bikers with a full lot of bike parking and a outdoor furniture setup that will allow for bikers to walk their bikes through the seating area. Being the closest point to Rome's first ever direct Tiber river connection, this may spark attention for bikers who enjoy rides along the river but who still want to have an outlet to take a break or meet up with other biker friends.

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"Kiddie Pool Foot Cooler". Photo and edit by Adam Abu-Sukheila



Illustration by Aaron Kennerly

new building PROPOSALS



The Unaccompanied

First Floor

Scale 1'-16"

N

Adoption Center for Refugee Children

"There are no unwanted children...

Just unfound families"

Madison Drozd / Hajo Neis / Rome 2019

This is a space Design for the most vulnerable refugees, the young children who are sent over alone.

Typically the kids are removed from there groups and sent to hospitals and orphanages to be put up for adoption. The space I designed integrates the children with a community of refugees like themselves and allows them continue to grow in a safe welcoming environment geared towards there needs and daily life at home

Capacity: 56 Age Range: 9-14



Second Floor

Third Floor

Scale 1'-16"

N

Scale 1'-16"

N

Level 4- Terrace Garden

The Program

-Community center terrace -Two private staff Apartment terraces

Level 3- Community Center

- Main community center - Shared terrace Connected to the community center rooms - Two larger staff apartments

Level 2- Children Housing -

14 Dorm Rooms Based on gender and age Two co-ed bathrooms and shower rooms Two communal areas Two private rooms Two smaller staff apartments

Level 1- Main Offices - Large Central playground - Security Office -Dinning Hall -Therapy Center - Adoption Center -Immigration and Transition Center

North Section

Scale 1'-32"

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THERAPY GARDEN

M A D I S O N C A N E L I S . R O M E S U M M E R 2 0 1 9 .H A J O N E I S

Therapy is known for having a stigma around the field. It is something that needs to change because mental health is as important as one's physical health. It is crucial for there to a therapy center in the neighborhood. The therapy center will be a place where refugees can work through the trauma's they have faced and start to focus on their mental health. For this project, I wanted to redefine what a therapy building could be. The main thing I focused on was wellness. I wanted to expand on what wellness could be, so I thought about the mind, body, soul, and environment. I integrated stores into the building, maintaining the same idea's that the whole building has. I wanted to break down the stigma of going to therapy by making my building a place where people would want to go.

Along with the shops, many terraces throughout the building have therapy gardens. The gardens will help the people going to therapy while benefiting the shops down below. The pants produced can be used by all the shops they can sell local organic products. The shops could also create jobs for refugee's living in the neighborhood. There will also be a crisis center on the first floor that will be open 24/7 that the refugees can you.

This building will be a place of peace and wellness for everyone who visits and hopefully will help the refugees smoothly transition into their new lives.

Regina Coeli Therapy Center Program Diagram Retail Space

Homemade Soap shop 1,181 sqft

Apartment

Community

Wellness

Circulation

Air

- Arcade

Mechanical

Water

- Water features in Garden

Nourishment

1 Bedroom Apt. 672 sqft

- Produce from Garden -Juice Bar -Organic Coffee Shop

Crisis Center 605 sqft 1,415 sqft

Organic Coffee shop 1,150 sqft Rentable Community Space 1,476 sqft

Wellness shop 705 sqft

Alternative Wellness Space ex. meditation, sound therapy, and message 3,674 sqft

Fitness

7,290 sqft

- Space for community fitness activities such as yoga

Mind

- Therapy Offices -Support Group Space -Crisis Center -Meditation Space

Comfort

Wine Bar 1,581 sqft

- Therapy Garden - Discrete entrances -Views to nature

Support Group/ Mixed Use Space 5,569 sqft

Light

Vintage shop 1,481 sqft

672 sqft

7,045 sqft

Glimpse into Community

Site Map



- Most rooms have windows and a view -Arcade

Therapy Offices 4,644 sqft

Flower shop 720 sqft 6,818 sqft

Green space Axon

8,318 sqft

7,290 sqft

1,415 sqft

Many neighborhoods do not consider its surrounding context and its axis connecting it to the city it is located in. Neighborhoods also block themselves off, making pedestrians walk past, not knowing there is a whole community that is waiting to be explored. If there is a small glimpse into the community, this will intrigue bystanders to come in and see what the neighborhood has to offer.

A glimpse into a community has to just that, a glimpse. It is there to spark wonder and connect the neighborhood back to the axis. The glimpse can be a small alleyway or a passage through a building with a view of something intriguing and an integral part of the community space. This will attract pedestrians and make them want to know what is inside. It will also feel as if the person is discovering the space.

In this specific project, there will be a pathway through the therapy building into the therapy garden and the rest of the neighborhood. The passageway will connect to the Chiesa Nuova axis and connect to the garden that is just a short walk up the hill. It will be a way for the street to have direct access to the garden and have views of the interior of the neighborhood.

=31,558 sqft

Air Innovation

Light

Water

Community Wellness

Nourishment

Fitness

Comfort Mind

Pillars of wellness

Innovation

- Therapy Garden -Alternative Therapy

Therapy Garden

Often, when refugee’s enter into a new culture, they experience not only culture shock but also are in need to recover from the trauma they have escaped. Not only is there a lack of green space in Rome, but also a lack of therapeutic activities and public gardening spaces.

A therapy garden is an outdoor garden space that has been specifically designed to meet the physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs of the people using the garden as well as the community around them. Connection to nature is so essential to maintain in a time of trauma because it is a connection to people’s health and wellbeing. Therapy gardens have been proved to decrease stress levels along with reduction of pain, and improvement in attention.There needs to be a therapeutic space for refugees to come together and heal as a community while still not being entirely separated from their new culture.

A therapy garden will not only help the healing process of the refugee’s but also be an aesthetic aspect of the neighborhood. It is a place where new beginnings can be made and a step towards growing into the new community.

South Elevation

East Elevation

Fourth Floor Plan

North Elevation

West Elevation

Third Floor Plan

Section B Second Floor Plan

B

A

Section A First Floor Plan

B

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LIVING LEARNING CENTER HANNAH GERTON | ARCH 484 ROME SUMMER 2019 | HAJO NEIS

UP

This project is composed of apartments, shops, and a learning center which contribute to the inclusive neighborhood on a larger scale. These three buildings, along with their immediate context, work to shape a private courtyard which provides safety and comfort for residents. A mix of studio and multi-bedroom apartments were designed in an effort to create a diverse area and encourage refugees and locals alike to occupy the space. A series of shophouses serve to invite pedestrians further into the site, leading them to a central public space. The shops themselves allow residents to combine living and working, providing flexible spaces and opportunities to start or grow a business. Finally, the cafe and learning center which enfront the main piazza is intended to serve all members of the community. Classrooms, study spaces and individual tutoring rooms are used for language learning services on the second floor while a more private third floor provides a space for unaccompanied minors and other refugee children to study in an effort to ease their transition into the local schools and culture.

DN

UP

UP

16 STUDIO APARTMENTS 584 - 687 SF 5 FAMILY APARTMENTS 1,157 - 1,490 SF 5 SHOPHOUSES SHOP: APPR. 605 SF HOUSE: APPR. 605 SF CAFE 1,426 SF LEARNING CENTER 2,852 SF The learning center focuses on serving refugees and others in the community in order to ease transition by providing language learning assistance and tutoring programs for kids. These services are important for residents who wish to learn new languages, share their native tongue, or for those seeking assistance with school subjects.

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FOURTH FLOOR PLAN

5

10

20

THIRD FLOOR PLAN

5

10

20

LIVING CENTER FUNCTIONS

STREET ACTIVATION

SHAPING SPACES

ROWHOUSE FACADE

A) CAFE SECTION 1/32” = 1’0

5

10

20

B) MULTIFAMILY APARTMENT SECTION

5

10

20

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

5

10

20

STUDIO APARTMENTS 2-4 BEDROOM APARTMENTS SHOPHOUSES CAFE LEARNING CENTER

STUDIO APARTMENT ELEVATION

ACOUSTIC BARRIERS

Areas along street fronts are polluted with vehicle noise making such spaces unpleasant to occupy.

5

10

20

GUIDING EDGES

Buildings with sharp corners often discourage entry onto secondary streets. The corner building’s interference with natural walkways and views makes such spaces significantly less inviting.

When pedestrian spaces are located adjacent to those occupied by vehicles uncomfortable noise levels are experienced. The heightened noise levels are problematic because they make traffic seem more imminent and therefore more dangerous. Additionally, the presence of unwanted noises makes the pedestrian spaces less pleasant to occupy and the enjoyment and usability of such areas is greatly reduced. The addition of physical barriers between pedestrians and vehicles protects users from undesirable noise conditions.

A

Corner buildings may cut off access to perpendicular streets, making it difficult to realize or occupy them. Abrupt street turns do not encourage entry and the presence of introverted buildings on corners only emphasizes this issue. Buildings which are not shaped to guide pedestrians often result in unoccupied spaces and lifeless streets.

In order to make side streets more accessible buildings located on corners should incorporate angles that gently guide pedestrians. Avoiding sharp corners and establishing a gradual entry will reinforce natural walking paths and create open space which can be used for gathering or to ease the transition of changing direction.

Creating a barrier (built/landscape/vegetation/ etc) between pedestrians and vehicles would result in more acoustic privacy, helping to establish a usable space. This separation would reduce pedestrian’s exposure to vehicular noises which may be disruptive or unsafe.

Scanned with CamScanner

Scanned with CamScanner

B

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

5

10

20

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Courtyard Community Emma Cantor

Prof. Hajo Neis Arch. 484 Rome, Summer 2019

Courtyard Community focuses on creating rings of privacy around a common core while providing opportunity for interactions and connections to form. Starting with the semi-private courtyard it expands into the common circulation systems. Then within each unit it continues to be employed through the arrangement of rooms. The living areas at the heart with bedrooms in the more removed locations. This organization provides privacy for residents with shared public spaces for community events.

Growing Through Food Food is a way for people to share, express themselves, and welcome others to their community. This is espeScanned CamScanner cially important forwith an inclusive refugee neighborhood.

In order to initiate connections amongst residents dishes could be prepared and shared from their home countries. However, Rome in particular, has a limited supply of foreign products. Therefore, a grocery store must be located within the neighborhood that is stocked with all the goods needed to initiate these connections.

Interior Degrees of Privacy When designing the interior privacy must be taken into account. Starting from the most public space at the heart it should then radiate out into more and more private zones. From the central public space all living units should be easily accessable, but with their entrances located in protected alcoves. Inside the units the living areas should be accessed first, with the bedrooms around them. This allows for the most private spaces to be the furthest from the public.

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PROJECT NAME: COMMUNITY CRAFT CENTER AND ARTIST HOUSING CHRISTIANA HEDLUND

GROUND FLOOR PLAN SCALE: 1/16 GROUND FLOOR PLAN SCALE: 1/16

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Set in the back of the inclusive refugee neighborhood is the Community Craft Center and 6 townhouses with studio space for artists to live and work. The Craft Center serves both the refugee and local community by providing classes and resources for refugee’s to both teach and learn artisinal crafts from one another. Above the Craft Center is a store dedicated to selling and sharing the work made by the artisans in the communty. The Craft Center’s goal is to bring people together through making, keep those that are displaced in touch with their roots, and provide an additional income to the refugee community.

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SECOND FLOOR PLAN SCALE: 1/16 SECOND FLOOR PLAN SCALE: 1/16

THIRD FLOOR PLAN SCALE: 1/16

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SECTION: A/A SCALE 1/16

THIRD FLOOR PLAN SCALE: 1/16

EAST ELEVATION

SECTION: A/A SCALE 1/16

WEST ELEVATION SECTION: B/B SCALE 1/16

NORTH ELEVATION

SOUTH ELEVATION

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Housing in Regina Coeli Development

By Aaron Kennerley

This housing complex consists of 24 units surrounding a central courtyard with a cooling fountain. The housing program is directed towards residents of Rome and has a communal roof garden with shaded areas and gathering spaces. The facades of the building have recurring windows in an orderly pattern to display simplicity and alignment. The building is raised off the ground to prevent pedestrians from looking through the windows and into the units. A primary staircase is situated next to the inner courtyard to create easy access while remaining a simple design.

Framed Views

Water Regeneration

* * * * * * Many paths restrict views for the pedestrian, making navigation difficult in dense urban enviornments.These paths are often seen to have no direction and often avoided.

Creating an open side of a path, or making it more visible by removing disruptive objects, can help someone navigate easier by knowing which direction they are heading towards to their destination. Framing specific views can be memorable to the pedestrian and create a place in which someone may stop and admire the specific view.

* * * If the sides of buidings were connected to paths that frame certain views and simplify navigation, then travelling as a pedestrian would become easier and more enjoyable.

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The lack of nature and water in peoples lives has created unheathy enviornments.

In Middle Eastern countries and several African countries, water is viewed as an oasis and relief to the intense heat of these regions. Due to the rejuvenating power of water, it is commonly used in fountains across cities of these regions which makes it easily accessible.

In our site with refugees from these regions, they are used to water fountains providing relief from the heat. Some of these refugees are religiously involved in Muslim practices in which fountains are also seen as sources of spiritual purity.

* * * Having these fountains play a fundamental role in their lives spiritually and physically, allows the residents to gain a sense of comfort, and feel comfortable in the new refugee housing complex.

s directed towards residents of Rome dows in an orderly pattern to display and into the units. A primary staircase

Water Regeneration

Water Regeneration

Framed Views

* * * * * * Many paths restrict views for the pedestrian, making navigation difficult in dense urban enviornments.These paths are often seen to have no direction and often avoided.

* * *

Creating an open side of a path, or making it more visible by removing disruptive objects, lack of nature and water in peoples lives has created can helpThe someone navigate easier by knowing which direction they are heading towards to their destination. ments.Framing specific views can be memorable to the pedestrian and create a place in which someone may stop and admire the specific view.

* * *

The lack of nature and water in peoples lives has created unheathy enviornments.

In Middle Eastern countries and several African countries, water is viewed as an oasis and relief to the intense heat of these regions. Due to the rejuvenating power of water, it is

unheathy enviorncommonly used in fountains across cities of these regions which makes it easily accessible.

In our site with refugees from these regions, they are used to water fountains providing relief from the heat. Some of these refugees are religiously involved in Muslim practices in which fountains are also seen as sources of spiritual purity.

* * *

If the sides of buidings were connected to paths that frame certain views and Innavigation, Middle Eastern countries and several African countries, and simplify then travelling as a pedestrian would become easier and water is viewed as an oasis Having these fountains play a fundamental role in their lives spiritually and more enjoyable. relief to the intense heat of these regions. Due to the rejuvenating power of water, it is allows the residents to gain a sense of comfort, and feel comfortphysically,

able in the new refugee housing complex. commonly used in fountains across cities of these regions which makes it easily accessible.

In our site with refugees from these regions, they are used to water fountains providing relief from the heat. Some of these refugees are religiously involved in Muslim practices in which fountains are also seen as sources of spiritual purity.

* * * Having these fountains play a fundamental role in their lives spiritually and physically, allows the residents to gain a sense of comfort, and feel comfortable in the new refugee housing complex.

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Single Mother Housing for Refugees & Women's Center Gemma Fucigna - Rome - Summer 19 The women’s center provides a crucial place for women to gather and converse. It creates somewhere where women, refugees or not, can build relationships and foster community. The center is also connected with other support services. These include individual case workers to help women integrate, employment offices. In the upper levels of the building, there is housing for single mothers and their children. These groups are especially vulnerable and require more services to stay safe while allowing them to live successful lives in Rome. With shared kitchens and terraces, the building facilitates daily interaction, building community and revitalizing culture. The central courtyard creates a semi private outdoor space connected to the larger community where families can feel comfortable in while transitioning into the environment around them. With the building’s central location on the site and close proximity to the adjacent neighborhood, it can be easily reached by residents on the site and those beyond. This is crucial in creating opportunities for interaction with the larger area.

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C

Site Plan Roof Plan 0 1

2 3

5m

Single Housing Units

Form Diagram

Adaptable Housing Units

Formal Unit

Shared Kitchen + Dining Space

Womens Center

Courtyard Rendering

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C

Program Axon

Level 3 Floor Plan 0 1

East Elevation

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North Elevation

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B

2 3

5m

A

B

Section A 0 1

2 3

5m

C

C

Level 2 Floor Plan 0 1

Section B 0 1

2 3

2 3

5m

5m

Section C 0 1

2 3

5m

Framing With Commerce

Communal Living Zones

Neighborhoods that lack retail result in limited pedestrain traffic and less sense of community between residents.

Without commerce, nonresidents have little reason to enter neighborhoods that are not on their commute. Inhabitants of the area are forced to leave for all necessary purchases and are also less likely to interact with eachother. Commerce that frames neighborhoods promotes nonresidents to spend time in the area and connect to the adjacent neighborhoods. It supports residents ability to sell goods, therefore creating a self-sustaining community. In the case of creating a neighborhood for refugees, these ideas are crucial. This pattern creates a place that they can live integrated with the new culture, while still allowing them to stay close to home.

Framing with commerce creates a neighborhood border, while providing a sense of community for residents through increased pedestrian traffic, conversation between buyer and seller, as well as employment opportunity.

Single women and single mother refugees require extra support from eachother to be able to safely and easily acclimate to their new surroundings.

Many women are forced to come alone or with children to a new country as refugees. Many of these women are not used to the financial burden of being the sole caretaker for themselves and their children. They arrive in a new country not knowing the language or the culture, and are then immediatly required to support themselves and their children. It is through their housing that they can begin to create a community among themselves and support eachother.

With shared living spaces, mothers can watch children and cook for multiple families. Friendships and support systems are created through this everyday interaction.

Single mother refugee housing should have individual units with shared kitchens and terraces between them. This allows women to support each other in their community.

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C

Level 1 Floor Plan 0 1

A

2 3

5m

B

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G emelli H omes Angel Lopez Sanchez Arch 484 | Rome Studio| Summer 2019 Professor: Dr. Hajo Neis

Asylum seekers have unfortunatey become a world-wide political problem due to the way the government has run and maintained their countires. In Italy, more and more Syrian and North Africans enter as refugees in order to escape the governmental problems in their own home countries. Rome is a city known for its historical architecture and organic urban growth. It is a more distinctive city than where many refugees come from. The community of dwellings are specifically designed for single parents as well as small families, creating a small community within the larger context of the site. Even though the buildings follow the same module, every single one is designed a little differently. The building functions to create a sense of ownership for the refugees, giving them hope and strength. The envelope of the buildings follow the Roman style. Meanwhile, the steel stairs not only add a modern touch to it, but they also encourage residents to go outside and interact with neighbors.

One of the four buildings has a roof terrace which can be used by the refugees living in the complex. This is an environment that creates hope and encouragement for new refugees.

Ground Floor Plan 1/32” = 1’-0”

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Site Plan

Ground Floor Plan 1/32” = 1’-0”

East Elevation North Elevation 1/16” = 1’-0” 1/16” = 1’0”

West Elevation East Elevation 1/16” = 1’-0” 1/16” = 1’0”

Ground Floor Plan 1/32” = 1’-0”

South/North Section Section Perspective

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Adriann Bechtle, ARCH 484, Summer 2019, Instructor: Hajo Neis

Shops Stairs

North Elevation Scale: 1/32” = 1’0”

Low Income Apartments (<60 square meters) Low Income Apartments (<75 square meters) Mid Income Apartments (<85 square meters) High Income Apartments

East Elevation Scale: 1/32” = 1’0”

Ground Floor Plan Scale: 1/32” = 1’0”

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Second Floor Plan Scale: 1/32” = 1’0”

Third Floor Plan Scale: 1/32” = 1’0”

Section A-A

Scale: 1/32” = 1’0”

Section B-B

Scale: 1/32” = 1’0”

Axonometric

Apartments for all families, including locals and refugees. The units vary in size to serve families with different levels of income. The two L-shaped buildings form a central court with a playground enclosed in a decorative garden. This gives residents a communal space and their children a place to play. The court also has access to a semi-public bathroom available to residents and gelateria customers. The complex is complemented by surrounding trees, which inspired its name ‘Appartamenti Parco Pergolato,’ or ‘Treeline Park Apartments.’

Fourth Floor Plan Scale: 1/32” = 1’0”

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via della lungara and mazzini bridge REDESIGN

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RIVER BREACH River is only accessible by from upper level road Lungotevere. Lack of same level connection to river makes it a less desirable destination.

Bikers have to lug their bikes down steps each time they want to access the river.

a passageway."

"Balance is

A heavily-structured punch-hole cut through the foundations of the Lungotevere in order to connect Via Della Lungara to the River. The newly-designed bike path on Via Della Lungara will branch down into the river so that bikers can easily access the water front.

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united nations refugee design COMPETITION

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DESIGNING WITH DIGNITY UNITED NATIONS REFUGEE COMPETITION 2019:

"Cities and Refugees" Entry by Adam Abu-Sukheila, Adrienne Betchle, Angel Lopez Sanchez, Christiana Hedlund, Emma Cantor, Gemma Fucigna, Hajo Neis, PhD, Hannah Gerton, Julian Watanabe-Neis, Ivan Castro, Madison Canelis and Madison Drozd.

"Just as steadfast rocks in the river resist the flow of water, people too refuse to accept the inevitable tide of refugees. There must be a change, a redirection of the current, breaking down the rocks of our minds to receive those who are vulnerable.

This is the problem we, as architecture students, have been trying to tackle by reimagining the framework of perception and the built world.

We are American students from the University of Oregon, and have been studying in Rome for the past eight weeks. After researching and exploring the historic center of Rome we chose to improve lives by revitalizing the existing Regina Coeli Prison into an inclusive neighborhood housing 25% refugees and 75% non-refugee residents.

In order to create a positive place for refugees to successfully resettle, we started by creating patterns. These patterns served as both design guides and social guides for the type of neighborhood we wanted to create. It is crucial that the neighborhood design respects the identity of the people, emphasizing pride and community, and the preservation of human dignity. The Regina Coeli Inclusive Neighborhood provides refugees with the proper tools to fully integrate into Rome through safe housing, support services, and promoting daily interaction with the community around them.

A pattern, based roughly on the ideas presented in Christopher Alexander's book A Pattern Language, is a recurring phenomenon observed which is first identified as a problem, then offers a solution.

Formulating a basis of patterns for this project has helped us to make sense of complex situations and has generated a deeper understand-

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ing of refugees and their needs. The patterns we have generated can be divided into two main categories, architectural and social.

Architectural patterns pertain to the creation of a built environment which is comforting and safe, benefiting refugees while maintaining the typology and design traditions of Rome. Social patterns deal with issues of inclusion, assimilation and cultural appreciation; encouraging community engagement, but also allowing for independence, providing opportunities for people to preserve their culture. With these patterns guiding our design, we have successfully established an inclusive neighborhood which improves the lives of both the refugees and locals.

Due to the stigma surrounding refugees and the possible dangers they are thought to bring, many cities refuse to accept them into their population. It is crucial that refugees interact and build community with locals instead of being seen as outsiders. In Rome, the few refugees who are accepted into the country are forced to occupy the outskirts of the city in buildings that are unsafe, with little aid from the government. The Regina Coeli Inclusive Neighborhood is innovative in its nature because it provides positive spaces which mix refugees and locals, while still allowing some separation so they can identify with their respective communities. Our hope is that this project will serve as a guide, which can be implemented in other cities, demonstrating that with the right knowledge and experiences, it is possible to

Glimpse of Competition Video "Design with Dignity" Submission.

Social Patterns Designing for the Vulnerable

Problem and Solution

Problem: Minority groups such as women and children are deprived of the needs required for proper rehabilitation.

Solution: We design the integration of centers such as adoption and women and children living that houses the essential care designed for them.

The Pillars of Wellness Problem and Solution

Problem: The mental health of refugees is often passed over in their rehabilitation programs.

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Solution: We design a space specifically to treat the mental needs of refugees just as rigorously as physical needs. To break the stigma of mental health the space will be inviting and open for all.

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Refugee Pattern innovations Current Regina Coeli prison Site 45’-60’

45’-60’

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45’-60’

7 50’

Patterns 65’

1. Acoustic Barriers 2. Crafting Community 3. Therapy Garden 4. Secure Refugee Playground 5. Refugee Integration 6. Orientation Services 7. Designing with Dignity 8. Designing for the Vulnerable 9. Pillars of Wellness 10. Pedestrian Access

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65’

20’

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35’

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30’ 80’

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45’

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60’

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80’

35’ 35’

60’

60’

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80’

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65’ 35’

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20’ 45’ 50’

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65’ 65’ 60’

65’

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90’ 65’

80’ 60’

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Regina Coeli Inclusive neighborhood

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acknowledgements BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Rome Architecture Summer Program 2019, University of Oregon In Cooperation with Global Education Oregon GEO Professor Hajo Neis, PhD. Rome Program Director and Instructor 2019 Guest lecturers and critcs: Prof. Giuseppe Strappa, Sapienza, Rome; Prof. Antonio Latini, Rome and University of Oregon Tom Rankin, Architect, Rome Prof. Howard Davis, University of Oregon Prof. Ralf Weber, Technical University Dresden Prof. Alexander Schmidt, University of Duisburg-Essen Prof. Ihab Elzeyadi, University of Oregon Prof. Vicky Kynourgiopoulou, Loyoala University, UN Grace Aaraj, Architect, Lebanon Prof. Joachim Kieferle, University of Wiesbaden Prof. Pia, K. Schneider, ISU, Rome Graduate and undergraduate Students: Adam Abu-Kheila Adriann Bechtle Madison Canelis Emma Cantor Flynn Casey Ivan Castro Madison Drozd Gemma Fucigna Hannah Gerton Christiana Hedlund Aaron Kennerly Angel Lopez Special volunteer tasks: Angel Lopez, Daily Technical Functioning Adam Abu-Sukheila, Booklet Editor GEO coordinator:

Diane Peterson

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"The Great Migration". Photo by Adam Abusukheila

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Aaraj, Grace, Catalytic Action, [Hatch], Reem Charif, Karim Najjar, Balsam Madi, and Ahmad

Nouraldeen. Cameracronica Magazine #15. Edited by Fabiano Micocci. Libria Publisher & Oil Forest League, 2017.

Alexander, Christopher, Hajo Neis, Artemis Anninou, and Ingrid King. A New Theory of Urban

Design. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1987.

Alexander, Christopher, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein. A Pattern Language: Towns,

Buildings, Construction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Alexander, Christopher. The Timeless Way of Building. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1979.

Chamoiseau, Patrick, Matthew Amos, and Fredrik Rönnbäck. Migrant Brothers: A Poet’s

Declaration of Human Dignity. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018.

Curzietti, Jacopo, Camilla S. Fiore, and Antonella Sciarpelletti. Il Monastero Romano Di Regina

Coeli. Roma, Italy: Herald Editore, 2014.

Falda. Nuova Pianta Et Alzata Della Citta Di Roma [map]. Scale not given. 1676.

Neis, Hajo, Briana Meier, and Tomo Furukawazono. “Arrival Cities: Refugees in Three German

Cities.” Proceedings 24th ISUF 2017 - City and Territory in the Globalization Age, 2017. doi:10.4995/isuf2017.2017.6318.

Nolli, Giambattista. The Pianta Grande di Roma [map]. Scale not given. 1748.

Mühlbauer, Lore, and Yasser Shretah. Handbuch Und Planungshilfe Flüchtlingsbauten:

Architektur Der Zuflucht: Von Der Notunterkunft Zum Kostengünstigen Wohnungsbau. Berlin: DOM Publishers, 2017.

Refugee Integration. Accessed June 017, 2019. https://refugee.uoregon.edu/.

Saunders, Douglas. Arrival City How the Largest Migration in History Is Reshaping Our World.

New York: Pantheon Books, 2010.

Schmal, Peter Cachola, Oliver Elser, and Anna Scheuermann. Making Heimat. Germany, Arrival

Country: 15. Mostra Internationale Di Architettura, La Biennale Di Venezia, Partecipazioni Nazionali. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2016.

Speck, Craig, Dan Qin, Noah Roesler, and Tim Walsh, eds. Living in a New Land. Eugene, OR:

University of Oregon; Department of Architecture, 2018.

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