GRADUATION PROJECT GIUSEPPE TERRAGNI’S “DANTEUM” EXTENSION ROMAN FORUM | ROME Architect João Carreira 2009
DANTEUM sections
For the Giuseppe Terragni’s “Danteum” extension a mandatory prerequisite for the development of the work is: “the maximum of expression is to be obtained with the minimum of rhetoric, the maximum of emotion with the minimum of decorative or symbolic adjectives.” This was the basis of Terragni in the development of the project and it should be maintained to its extension. The extension follows the same rules of the “Danteum”. The Danteum consists of a rectangle of gold where the long side is equal to the short side of the “Basilica of Maxentius” and with the same angle to the “Via dei Fori Imperiali”, the extension is divided in two spaces connected by a path. The first space is a rectangle of gold where the long side is equal to the short side of the “Danteum” with the same angle on the “Via Cavour”. The second space also a rectangle of
gold is on the opposite side of the “Via dei Fori Imperiali”, where the long side is equal to the short side of the first room. This second room will not repeat the same angle on the “Via dei Fori Imperiali”, instead aligns itself parallel to the “Foro di Cesare”. This breaks the rule of the composition and serves to mark the end of the golden rectangle decomposition exercise, thereby closing an assembly formed by the Basilica of Maxentius, the Danteum, the first and the second spaces. This geometric definition of the spaces creates a sense of unity between the two sides of the “Via dei Fori Imperiali”. This gesture is essential to restructure the forum complex. In this work is intended that the ruins become “Forums” again and lose the character of museum. So the spaces represent the meaning on which they were built, not reproducing the space but its essence.