AREA SACRA MUSEUM

FALL 2022 (YEAR 5) ROME, ITALY

The aspirations that guided the design of the Area Sacra Museum were to provide relief from the busy city life of Rome while educating the public about the significant sight of Area Sacra. Largo di Torre Argentina is a recently recovered site of Rome’s ancient city that was once built over during the Middle Ages. The site now appears as a sunken landscape of ruins that is often overlooked by passers-by. How does one introduce a museum to bring life back to the site?

The design occupies the existing eastern wall that borders the site. The structure is composed of a bulked scaffolding system with metal grating that formulates the walking paths and display areas. The façade is created with a series of horizontal louvers that provide ventilation and views to the site. A skylight system framed by the structure is also utilized to highlight the displays and create a soft lit ambiance.

One enters through the existing medieval tower at the south end of the site and then transitions down into the museum or up to the observation deck. Once in the museum, the visitor is guided by the horizontal louvers to the different displays. The soft light from above lights the paths as the visitors move past the research facility in the existing wall to the main display where they can step even further down into the ruins. At three points of the promenade there are opportunities to move out of the museum on the elevated path and meander through the ruins of the four temples of Area Sacra—away from the business of the city and back in time to Ancient Rome.