Roma '06. Roma, architettura contemporanea

This book contains descriptions of a number of recent works of architecture located in Rome or its outer city These are examples of the renovation phase which is currently underway: in recent years some of the projects and strategies adopted by local Authorities have conveyed a feeling of innovation which neatly fits in with the emerging "contemporary culture". Architecture now seems to revolve around the values of the surrounding environment and not those of "location", such an important part of culture in the 70s and 80s, which gave history an interpretation which was almost morphological and immanentist. Many projects we will look at are therefore perfectly contemporary and their success lies in the way they have responded to the various urban developments spread out in dispersive and ambiguous areas of the city. These areas need to be linked together via the use of infrastructure that can create a system of relationships and not a series of clearly defined and finished buildings. It would therefore seem that a new phase has started which is very different to the building work carried out between the post-war period and the 80s. Much hope had been placed on the facilities built for the Olympics and the 1960 Town-Planning Scheme which however resulted in a great building craze and just a few examples of quality works of architecture: building competitions such as the one in 1994 for 50 churches, or the one for additional squares in the city's quarters, and especially Renzo Piano's victory of the Auditorium competition, followed by its difficult and controversial implementation, have allowed the city to go down a route of modernisation which helps to place it on a par with other great European cities. Some of the first projects described may be dated compared to the period we are interested in, but they are, however innovative in some way and can be considered precursors to the current transformation phase. A short chapter has been dedicated to the development of urban develapment and architecture in Rame from 1870, year in which the cily became capital of the Kingdom of Italy, in order to try and provide an introduction to the description of the works that follow. At the end of the book there is an appendix that contains some known projects which however have not yet been implemented.