ROME STUDIO Place, Context, Responce Sydney Young Ohio University Contents Preface Herculaneum Tempietto Pantheon Villa Borghese S. Carlo S Andrea E.U.R Dio Padre Fuksas Church MAXXI Gli Archi Conclusion Bibliography Preface Visiting over 100 foreign places in few a few short weeks was extremely overwhelming. After returning to the United States from Rome, Italy, it was time to collect my thoughts and expe- riences. The booklet is a visual guide of my stay in Rome. I have organized photos and drawings from the trip along with external research and personal narrative to fully synthesize and respond to the place and context of 10 sites the group visited. The 10 sites I chose were based on their honestly and integrity to me. As someone with no religious background, I found it very dicult to be interested in the numerous, highly decora- tive baroque churches that had been added to over the years. However, the churches I did choose, had left some sort of lasting impact on my understanding of historical architecture. As for the ancient sites I chose, they seemed to very genuine, and places that most people will never get to see in their life time. They really stuck me as important to history as well as the evolution of design. The modern buildings I chose in this project had the most impact on my understanding of modern design from a more worldly view, especially since these ultra modern building were built into such a historical city. This booklet is laid out along side history, which for the most was, was how the trip was organized. This organization helps reect progression of my drawing stills as well as my compre- hension of each site. Throughout the course of this trip and the weeks after, the skills I have gained from the instructor and teaching assistant in terms of painting, drawing, visualizing space will follow be far beyond this project, as well as the ability to adapt and interpret a new culture. Overall I believe adding this project to my portfolio is a milestone of my personal progress in the program, as this is something I would have never been able to create from a textbook perspective. Herculaneum Herculaneum Although most people don’t think of Herculaneum when they hear about the eruption of Vesuvius, but instead think of Pompeii, there is much more of Herculaneum preserved than the city of Pompeii. Items such as wood, cloth, and even food have been discovered. Herculaneum was much smaller than Pompeii. It’s also important to note that only about one quarter of Herculaneum has been excavated. Less human remains were found in Hercu- laneum due to the eects of the volcanic eruption. While Pompeii was covered by hot lava gradually, Herculane- um was covered by lava along with about 40 feet lapilli, a type of ash debris that’s ejected from the volcano. Most remains were found by the shoreline from natives who didn’t make it out in time. Most people were able to ee north to Naples. Herculaneum was rediscovered in 1709 while digging for a well. Most of what has been discov- ered in the ancient city has been residential areas. The modern city was built on top of the part of Herculaneum that has yet to be excavated. Moving that many people and relocating them in order to continue would be very costly which is why the rest of the ancient city has yet to be uncovered (Herculaneum). The parts of Herculaneum that have been discovered, have been mostly residential areas. In the present day site, there seems to be missing a basilica, a forum, and a theater, that would have been common, as seen in Pompeii. Walking around the site, it looks pretty similar to Pompeii. There are roads made of the same materi- al, however Herculaneum roads were missing the stepping stones that were used to cross. The public places that have been discovered are places such as a place for recreational sports, baths, and a swimming pool, which aren’t to nearly as high of a standard of missing elements. The three most impressive residential houses that have been found are the Samnite House, the Mosaic Atrium house, and the Stag house. The Samnite house is notes because of the atrium. Not only is well preserved but it’s special planning is said to be a great point of evolution. In the atrium, there is a clear second story that has a fence around it. The vertical expansion in the domus is an important marker in residential architecture (Dun- ham). In the Mosaic Atrium house, we see again, like the Samnite house, and numerous other Roman oor plans, we see the atrium rst, and across from it the tablinum. However this specic tablinum has basilica attributes. There are columns dividing the space into a nave and side aisles. Above, there is the addition of a clearstory. The house gets its name from the well preserved Mosaic oor of the atrium, that due to the intense weight of the lava that once carved it, and now been warped. The Stag house shares a wall with the Mosaic Atrium house, but is important for its own individual reason. We see an increase of important of particular spaces. This house contains two tricliniums. One is located next to the atrium, the other is directly across from it, through the garden. Looking to the other side is a brilliant view of what would have been the ocean, as these houses are up on a ledge above the sea port. Because these places were particularly for dining, we can assume that these spaces were being more important in residential life. It’s also important to note that compared to prior spaces of similar layout, the ones in Herculaneum have signicantly more windows and areas that allow in light (Dunham). Walking around Herculaneum was so much more enjoyable than Pompeii. It was a lot more interactive and a lot more was open for viewers to explore. The preservation of the place was unbelievable, the intensity of some of the colors on the wall looks like they could have been painted less than 200 years ago. The Mosaic oors that remain have striking detail that took a tremendous amount of precision to lay, by hand. From what I had learned in previous classes about the layout of these residential homes from ancient rom and Greece, it was really an experiment to be able to put myself in a live size oor plan. Being able to maneuver the spaces just like people did 2,000 years ago and visualize the space as it had been was so much more helpful in understand the use and practicality of these spaces in that time. Not only was this an amazing site to see, but it was also extremely important to see in terms of understanding the evolution of space and how people interact with it. Being able to explore a town that has been frozen for almost 2,000 Herculaneum years is a rst hand experience that not all designers get to experience. Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio The Tempietto is nestled just a few minutes walk from Trastevere. Without prior knowledge of the building you would probably never know it existed. San Pietro sits to the left of the Tempietto. It used to be accessible though a large gate, how- ever, visitor are now rerouted through a museum maze that ends at the back of the temple. It is the smallest space we visited, as it is no bigger than a small cabin. 16 Tuscan order trace the circular perimeter. The Tuscan is a variant of the Greek Doric order is the most masculine order, which is appropriate in this setting because the Tempietto is the supposed site of the crucixion of Saint Peter. There is access to beneath the temple, via two staircases at the back, where there is a small hole in the ground where the cross would have been placed at the time. Donato Bramante designed the small temple in 1502. Bramante would go on to redesign Saint Peters Basilica just a few years later. Bramante had a bit of an obsession of Antiquity, in the Tempietto and in Saint Peter’s. The concept of trying to create perfect geometry in perfect relationships and proportions is an ancient idea from the Greeks that would aide in imaging Heaven, since philosophically Gods were the only ones that could create the perfect ideas, while people only earth could only ever get close. There- fore, the closer designers got to perfect, pure forms, the closer they were to God. These concepts would turn into the Period known as the High Renaissance (Hint- zen-Bohlen, Brigitte). Tempietto When we rst arrived at Saint Pietro, I think most of thought we were going in the church, and that the church was the Tempietto. We had to wind our way though a small museum to get to the Tempietto, which is in a side courtyard of Saint Pietro. I honestly was not expecting it to be so small. Its diameter is only 15 feet and the whole courtyard is probably 50 feet, at most. After learning that this was the crucixion site of Saint Peter, the small martyrium became so much more paramount. The site works more as a marker than anything else, almost like a really large headstone. Being able to see something entirely at once and being able to walk around it in just a few seconds was really helpful in attempting to draw a oor plan.