Wall, Gate, Garden

Based on three principles: Architecture, Archaeology, Anastylosis, this project is a proposal for a new cultural institution within the Archaeological Park of Rome. Our masterplan consists of a wall and a garden. The new brick-faced concrete wall binds the site and encloses a garden that unearths and displays archeological fragments through a simple depression. The use of a wall in the project counters the inadequacy and placelessness that has existed and currently exists about the site. The wall’s delineation of a boundary is not intended to separate, but rather bring a place into existence. Currently, the site contains both archeological and architectural fragments from the past. Our intervention seeks to integrate these elements and facilitate a dialogue between them. We propose to renovate the abandoned antiquarium and integrate it with the museum spaces contained within the thickness of the wall. The wall and the antiquarium together create the main gateway to the archaeological garden, becoming the twin gate to that of Palatine Hill.