City of Sun in Rome, Italy by LABICS

Article source: LABICS 

Winning competition entry for the redevelopment of an urban area, including the transformation of an existing bus depot to integrate a mixture of uses including office, retail space and residential units.

This project is part of the Municipality of Rome’s initiative to redevelop a number of transport depots within the city in conjunction with local public transport authority ATAC. It involves the regeneration of a neighborhood with a weak identity but with good growth potential due to its location at the edge of the city centre. Labics’ aim therefore was to create a new centre for the local community, but also to increase its profile as a place of transition with privileged access to the city centre.

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

• Architects: LABICS (Maria Claudia Clemente, Francesco Isidori)
• Project: City of Sun
• Location: Via della Lega Lombarda, Rome, Italy
• Photography: Marco Cappelletti, Fernando Guerra | FG+SG fotografia de arquitectura
  
• Client: Hines Italia SGR Spa (INPGI Hines Fund)
  
• Current Owner: Investire SGR
  
• Design Team: Luigi Panetta (team leader), Paola Bettinsoli, Chiara Capriulo, Gaia Maria, Lombardo, Michele Morganti, Giorgio Pasqualini, Filippo Pesce
  
• Structural Engineering: Studio Pagnoni Vita
  
• Mechanical and Electrical Systems: 3TI Progetti
  
• Site Construction Supervision: Eideo servizi d’ingegneria (Stefano D’Ambrosio)
  
• Developer: Parsitalia Srl (general contractor)
• Construction Cost: 35.100.000 Euros

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

• Area
  
  • Lot area: 11.000 square meters
    
  • Gross Floor Area: 17,300 square meters
    
  • Gross Usable Floor area: 11.800 sqm
    
  • Residences: 5.500 square meters of gross usable floor area
    
  • Offices: 4.200 square meters of gross usable floor area
    
  • Commercial Spaces: 2.100 square meters of gross usable floor area
    
  • Library: 1.700 square meters of gross usable floor area
    
  • Parking Area: 10.000 square meters of gross usable floor area (including the archeological area)
    
• Schedule
  
  • Invitation Competition: 2007
    
  • Design: 2007 – 2010
    
  • Groundbreaking: November 2010
    
  • End of Construction: November 2016
    

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

The development of the site has been designed to be porous, allowing good access to and from the site, encouraging the flow of people and demonstrating Labics’ philosophy that cities should be built around systems rather than as a series of objects. Public realm space is not seen as residual but is fully integrated with the built elements – so, for example, the basement space becomes the load-bearing structure for high level walkways as well as a pathway in itself. This creates a complex public space, rich in experience.

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

The project is articulated over different levels, with commercial activities and the public library at ground level, offices on the first floor and public spaces on top of those. Three buildings are suspended above this public area – one containing more offices and the other two for residential use. The residential buildings contrast in terms of their typology and external treatment. The first is a tower containing small and medium-sized flats, partially enclosed with a horizontal glass brise soleil. The second ‘villa’ building contains luxury duplex apartments and is clad with aluminum panels that provide flexible, adjustable sun shading and a playful, everchanging envelope.

Image Courtesy © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG fotografia

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

Image Courtesy © Marco Cappellettii

Image Courtesy © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG fotografia

Image Courtesy © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG fotografia

Image Courtesy © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG fotografia

Image Courtesy © LABICS

Image Courtesy © LABICS

Image Courtesy © LABICS

Image Courtesy © LABICS

Image Courtesy © LABICS

Tags: Italy, Rome

Categories: Housing Development, Library, office Complex, Offices, Parking, Residential, Retail, Urban Design

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 15th, 2018 at 6:40 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.