Tiber River Museum & Water Research Center
Fall 2016
This was a group project that I designed with my classmate, Paige Geldrich, in Rome, Italy. The Tiber River, once the city's main source of transportation of goods, has had a history of flooding. This issue was addressed with the construction of massive retaining walls, reaching up to 100 feet, in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Although this solved the city's flooding issues, it formed a disconnect between the city and the river.
The goal of this project was to reestablish that lost connection between both elements. A proposed Tiber River Museum was to educate the public about the river's history and Water Research Center was to monitor today's current water levels. The site is located over the Tiber River between Palazzo Farnese and
Villa Farnesina. Michaelangelo, the original architect of Palazzo Farnese, imagined a private bridge connecting the two houses owned by the Farnese family, but the bridge was never built. The proposed museum and research center would become the new "bridge" spanning the Tiber River along the imaginary axis.
The main idea behind our design was to extend the urban landscape. Through our initial site analysis, we discovered a unique pattern of Rome, consisting of a series of strade (roads) and piazze (public squares). Because this common pattern had been implemented throughout the city, we decided to incorporate it into our design by extending the urban landscape over the Tiber River. The design consisted of two man buildings (the museum and research center) with light courts, which
were common among Italian architecture, with each facade responding uniquely to the surrounding natural and artificial landscapes. The rest of the extended urban landscape would have a series of piazze, some elevated at the city level and others slowly stepping down to the river itself. Connected to these "stepped-down" piazze were ramps on each size that physically connected the city with the river below, so runners, bikers, and pedestrians alike could easily experience this smoother connection.
