Untouchables_Sant’Angelo

Rome in the world’s collective imagination is “the eternal city”, rich in history, art and culture. For us, young architects firm, Rome represents a “dead city”. Rome is, afraid of embracing modernity, lacking on both planning and of a vision of the city future. For decades the city has been living in a stalemate. A few works of contemporary architecture are felt as disfigurements of the historical heritage, subjected to constant criticism. Some other have never been completed, becoming the symbols of the political mismanagement.

In our vision, if Rome wants to improve, it must overcome the “culture of the block” and embrace to innovation, movement and dynamism. Without being afraid!
Rome tremendously needs more planning and a new vision. Rome needs to recover the historical centre and bring it to level of livability that best suits its history, or at least similar to Milan or Paris. To achieve this the city needs to announce may new calls for innovative architectural competitions. Sant’Angelo Castel and all its urban setting is one of the most striking examples of the city’s urban and architectural immobility. Built to be Hadrian’s funeral mausoleum, then it became a defence castle, then a prison, a safe haven for the papacy, and currently houses the National Museum of Sant’Angelo Castel, the fifth most visited museum in Italy. Despite the large influx of tourists and its relevance, Sant’Angelo Castel is characterized by abandoned open spaces that are poorly valued but rich in potential, such as the Lungotevere and the system of gardens inside the city walls.

Our proposal goal focuses precisely on imporoving and givinig new life to these spaces. We want, to make them usable and liveable, and we want to do that enhancing the urban connections and stimulating a new relationship between an urban centrality and citizenship. We envision a new possible scenario for this area, where the Lungotevere becomes an open space for the city and its inhabitants, a dynamic and activity-rich place. A place that connects the ancient urban fabric and directly to the Castle.

The intervention that we are proposing it is, at the same time, simple and visionary. The walls of the Lungotevere are opened with large arches, reminiscent of Ponte Sant’Angelo, with the aim of recovering part of both the Castel’s gardens and the east entrance. At the same time, the Lungotevere embankment is enhanced with a series of green spaces, water tanks and docks for private and tourist boats, and it is directly connected to the Mole Adriana Park. In this way the river bank is given back to the city becoming a public and dynamic space, in continuous harmony with the context, and fully integrated in the wider urban context in order to achieve a new centrality of value.