This project is rooted in the easement of the warehouses from the Precision Electrical Components factory, former military grounds that face Rome’s new contemporary art museum, the MAXXI. We drew the district in negative, beginning not by existing edifices but rather by the open spaces that engender them. The guiding element of the new City of Science district is a monumental central square; the district is freed from cars by rerouting traffic flow onto the streets surrounding the site. The ensuing public space is thus a moving, vibrant area that extends inside the district.

We believe that a city’s capacity to self-regenerate at its core is the guarantee of a sustainable metropolitan future. It provides the basis of renewable relationships with its history, inhabitants and the future they trace out together. Maintaining the comb-like organization of the former barracks seems to carry urbanity, in which the project maintains a sustained imbrication between built elements and public spaces. The double framework of each barracks allows the placement of new housing units with genuine volumetric and typological diversity. The systematic occupation of the ground floors for activities or businesses allows urban stimulation in this new swathe of city.

The resulting social richness cements the district and lets it affirm a strong identity in Rome’s contemporary cityscape.