Reshaping a Roman Site

I’m wrapping up my week as “Scholar in Residence” for the University of Oregon’s study abroad program in Rome. It’s been a fun and informative learning experience.

I’m posting images from the studio review we had on Thursday, to give you an idea of what it’s like to be an architecture student or professor.

These students have completed second year of a five-year professional degree program (leading to the Bachelor’s of Architecture degree). They will start third year in the fall.

They’ve done some very nice design work so far in their three-credit architecture studio class in Rome. Their site is an embankment wall, built in the late 1800s to keep the Tiber River from flooding the city as it has done for centuries.

According to Wikipedia:

The Tiber was once known for its floods — the Campus Martius is a flood plain and would regularly flood to a depth of 2 metres (6 ft 7 in). The river is now confined between high stone embankments which were begun in 1876. Within the city, the riverbanks are lined by boulevards known as lungoteveri, streets “along the Tiber.”

Activating an Embankment

Viewing the site from across the Tiber, with Daisy.

Viewing the site from across the Tiber, with Prof. Daisy Williams.

On my first night in Rome, University of Oregon Prof. Daisy Williams took me to see the site in Rome that her students are using for their architectural design project. It’s across the Tiber River from where we’re standing in the above photo.

The site comes to life in the summer–in a way I’d not gotten to see before.  (I usually visit Rome in May, before the walkway becomes active.)  I’ve included photos of our visit to the waterfront, so you can join us on our tour.

Prof. Williams has asked her students to re-design the embankment wall in this area, so that it can be used for screening films, and so that it connects street and water-front walkways more comfortably.

You can see from the image above that the walkway often floods. This is an issue the students need to take into account in their designs.