Rome Modern architecture

Modern Architecture in Rome

Auditorium Parco della Musica

The Parco della Musica is a large public music complex on the north side of Rome, designed by Renzo Piano. The Roman Auditorium is not simply an Auditorium, but a complete City of Music: with three halls, an open air amphitheatre, large rehearsal and recording rooms. The choice of the Auditorium’s location, with the Parioli district to the south, the Flaminio district to the west, the Olympic Village to the north and Villa Glori to the east, has provided the opportunity for important urban improvements. It was decided that the area for the Auditorium ought to have the same urban and territorial dignity as the four districts surrounding it, each one of which has its own separate identity and model of everyday life.

The Auditorium is meant to act as a sophisticated source of attraction for extra-urban use, while, at the same time, maintaining all the functions needed for everyday local use. This is guaranteed both by the way the three buildings have been designed and by the way the Auditorium’s activities have been distributed. The three “harmonic chambers” are immersed in the large park with trees and are placed at a right angle around a large theatrical cavea, which faces the Olympic Village. On this side, on Viale de Coubertin, the premise becomes more permeable and activities organized there tend to be linked more with normal urban use. This guarantees a daily and uninterrupted movement within the whole structure.

• Address: viale Pietro de Coubertin, near the Palazzetto dello Sport di viale Tiziano

Ara Pacis Museum

The Ara Pacis Museum in Rome opened in the spring of 2006. The museum was designed by the international architect Richard Meier and has been subject to much controversy and criticism. The Ara Pacis, a more than 2,000 year old “Altar of Peace” that was used (paradoxically) for sacrifices, is a commanding work of Roman art and architecture that had been lost to civilization for centuries.

• Address: Lungotevere in Augusta – 00100 Roma

Maxxi : National Centre of Contemporary Arts Rome

The MAXXI is the first national museum dedicated to contemporary creativity, designed as a multidisciplinary space for experimentation and innovation in arts and architecture. The design by Zaha Hadid is woven into the city’s fabric with an architectural arrangement based on the idea of an urban campus. In the MAXXI, the idea of a “closed” building gives way to a broader dimension, creating both indoor and outdoor spaces that become part of the surrounding city. The MAXXI design goes beyond the concept of the building-museum. The complexity of the volumes, the curving walls, the variations and intersections of the levels determine a very rich spatial and functional configuration that visitors may pass through via ever different and unexpected routes. Multiple environments coexist in a sequence of galleries illuminated with natural light filtered via a special roof system. The large full height atrium houses the reception services and leads into the auditorium, the galleries destined for the permanent collections, the exhibitions and the spaces devoted to the cafeteria and the bookshop.

• Address: Via Guido Reni, 4/A 00196 Rome