thesis: is what you see what you get

curated architecture-1-

CURATED ARCHITECTURE

CURATED ARCHITECTUREIs What You See What You Get ?

Jeanne Cayer-DesrosiersMcGill University, April 2012

Directed Studio Research

ABSTRACT

Romes Campidoglio is one of the most loaded architec-tural sites in the world. Its history spans from Romes foundation in 753 BC to today, and embod-ies social, political and religious transformations, manifest through an architecture of authority. The piazza stands as an architectural and cultural palimpsest of West-ern history upon which an inves-tigation of the adequacy of con-temporary media as architectural tool is situated.

Inspired by Vicos Verum Ipsum Factum, this project reveals the layers of physical, cultural

and ideological archaeologies of Romes Campidoglio, in order to determine its import into todays networked urban use. The saying What You See is What You Get, is here transformed into a potent inquiry: Is What You See What You Get (IWYSWYG)?

Using a foreign Campi-doglio as the setting, the project seeks to identify with the con-struct of a yet experienced architectural space exclusively through contemporary media - a sensible, informed, self-conscious and consequential, augmented extension. The intervention thus

aims to reconcile the sites heavy historical baggage with its cur-rent standing through significant contemporary perspectives. Two cinematic works embodying their respective Campidoglios, Frederico Fellinis Fellinis Roma and Andrei Tarkovskys Nostal-ghia, were used as the principle sites of enquiry. The remoteness of the site as well as a personal disembodied experience al-lowed to question how one can understand and appropriate a space incarnating such architec-tural virtue by means of contem-porary media, and curate the site from abroad.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To my family, who has been supporting me in every way possible, through half a decade of academic explorations. Merci Momi pour ton grand coeur et ta patience, merci Popi pour ton humour et ta compassion.

To my supervisors, Al-berto Prez-Gmez and Andrew King, for their ingenious insight and dedicated patience.

To my friends, who have made me laugh, and cry, when either was necessary. Thank you

Vanessa, Marie and Emily for your presence and all your much needed advice.

To Michael Jemtrud, who believed in this project before I even could.

And, to my dear DD. Thank you for all of your dedi-cated help and support. Thank you to have forced some sanity into irrational times, to have ac-cepted my DRS-self, and to have cooked so many delicious meals and poured much needed G/Ts.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Preface

Site OverviewRomes Campidoglio

Part One: The DataHistorical ExplorationMapped Deductions

Part Two: The Revelation, Tarkovsky and FelliniFilmic StudiesLaminated Insight

Part Three: The AscensionProposal 1 The Altered Rise

Part Four: The ConnectionThe ExpansionFinal Proposal The Curation

Notes

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Preface

Fig.2


Inspired by an analysis of Michelangelos Porta Pia, this proj-ect started as an investigation of Vicos saying, Verum Ipsum Fac-tum. Concerned with the modern revolution of architectural rep-resentation tools, this project in-tended to research the evolution of Renaissances disegno through contemporary analyses and tools. The initial aim was thus to recre-ate disegnos significant depth of translation through digital and computerized tools, such as mod-eling, editing and rendering soft-ware as well as contemporary re-search methods, as an information source for a disembodied inquiry.

The project further evolved into an enlarged urban setting, taking the entirety of the Capitoline Hill, as opposed to only the Piazza del Campido-glio, as a frame. By considering the layers of physical, cultural and ideological archaeology of Romes Campidoglio, the study aimed to question its import in todays networked urban use.

After an in-depth data-ized analysis of the sites histori-cal and architectural evolution through time, another type of approach was needed in order to absorb the significance of the

Campidoglio today. By ques-tioning how to identify to the construct of an unexperienced architectural space exclusively through contemporary media, in order to propose a sensible, informed, conscious and conse-quential augmented extension, this project takes a stand on contemporary design techniques and is critically aware of the current stand and responsibili-ties architects now have to re-spond to. It also explores what contemporary techniques have to offer as architectural investi-gation tools as opposed to the pre-modern concept of disegno.


Site Overview Romes CampidoglioFig.3

Site Plan of the Capitoline Hill in Antiquity1. Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus 2. Temple of Ops Opifera 3. Temple of Fides 4. Ara Gentis Iuliae 5. Un-identified temples from the Severan Marble Plan 6. Tabu-larium 7. Temple of Veiovis 8. Buildings of the Imperial period 9. Insula of the Ara Coeli 10. Traditional location of the Temple of Juno Moneta 11. Probable remains of the Temple of Juno Moneta and of the Auguraculum

Fig.4

The site, Romes Cam-pidoglio, is a critical component in this project as it acts as the element resisting the program. With a history spanning over more than 2,500 years, the Campidoglio is valuable in its example of architectural inten-tions evolving through time. As Robert Venturi mentioned in his 1953 thesis,A study of maps and drawings of [the Campidoglios] changing set-tings shows a group of buildings in themselves not significantly al-tered, but nevertheless revealing variations in expression and qual-ity.

The Campidoglio is where the most things have happened over the longest time, and can give [us] the most solid example of that four-dimensional art form that goes by the name of the Eternal [...] City.Clark, Eleanor. 1975. Rome and a villa. New York: Pantheon Books.

(Robert Venturi, The Campidoglio : A Case Study, The Architectural Review (May 1953): 333-334.)



Fig.5

The Campidoglio has been through a remarkable num-ber of transformations since its foundation. This constitutes the ideal situation for a program in-vestigating the notion of design evolution. Adjacent to the most historical portion of Rome (the Forum and the Palatine Hill) the Campidoglio once held the emi-nent position of a victorious ar-mys arrival point in Roman times while also housing the citys first temples (of Jupiter, Juno and Mi-nerva). The site later lost its sig-nificance as a religious epicen-ter throughout the Middle Ages. Then used as a pasture land, it still remained the site of the city Senate. In the 1540s, Pope Paul III commissioned Michelangelo to restore the hills religious con-trol over the city in an attempt

to reinstate its sacred authority, Passing away before the comple-tion of the project, Michelangelos plans were later resumed by ar-chitects such as Giacomo della Porta and Martin Longhi the El-der. Housing the late medieval Palazzo dei Conservatori (coun-cil meeting for the patricians) and the Palazzo del Senatorio (seat of the magistrate), as well as the Palazzo Nuovo, a 17th cen-tury replica of its facing counter-part, the Campidoglio currently houses the Musei Capitolini as well as the actual city Senate. The sitehaving constantly morphed into different aesthetics and uses over timeis the ideal location for an intervention aiming to in-vestigate the resistance forced by the sites architecture authority. Furthermore, the importance of

the Victor Emmanuel Monument (1895-1911), neighbor of the Campidoglio, must not be mini-mized. Forcing the Capitoline Hill into some kind of a backstage po-sition rather than the prominent central civic, social, and creative space it once was, the Victor Em-manuel Monument is a key com-ponent of the sites elements. The aimed architectural intervention aspires to reposition the Campi-doglio as a leading Roman space, rather than a mere secondary tourist attraction. This project will redefine the once crucial Ca-put Mundi, by enforcing a tense dialogue between harmony a chaos, between respecting the authority of the past yet enforc-ing a contemporary understand-ing of a poignant architectural site.

Part One: The Data Historical Exploration

Caput Mundi : head of the worldHas always functioned as stronghold and fortress in time of distress

Capitoline Hill Timeline

1797

Basilica deconsecrated(turned into stable)

9th

Byzantine church taken over by papacy

1250

Romanesque Gothic Renovation of church

7th

Auguraculum

13-14th

EstruscansIron Age Hut (asylum)

574

Byzantine Abbey on Arx

343

Temple of Juno Moneta

Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus

83

Fire: Temple of Jupiter and Sybiline books destroyed

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Augustus adds a hut of Romulus to create new meaning and memories to complement hills older tradition

1993

Museum Space by Carlo Aymonino

16th

Palazzo Dei Conservatori

Palazzo Caffarelli-Clementino

367

Temple of Concord

3rd

Temple of Fides

192

Temple of Veiovis

12th

Palazzo Senatorio

78

Tabularium

22

Temple of Jupiter Tonans

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Aerarium

1348

Addition of 124 steps to commemorate the Black Death

2nd

Insula

17th

Palazzo Nuovo

1882

Competition for the ArxVittorio Emmanuel

Rome is the central stage of this investigation. In itself, the city holds a rich ac-cumulation of significant events, artists, politics, religions and architecture. Rome is a place where different times, places and people have met to ac-complish great, and devastating, things. Rome is an eternal imag-inative fantasy, where dreams are realized, and nightmares ac-complished.

The first step into this investigation was rather data-esque. This series of drawings focuses on a quite raw approach centered around an historical stratification of information. It aims to reach an understanding of the sites architectural evo-

Over the millennia, Rome has died, and resurrected, count-less times, and will undoubtedly continue to do so. The Italian metropolis is thus the perfect setting to observe the evolution of architectural standing in mod-ern society.

By setting up a site re-mote from Montreal, the loca-tion of investigation, this project aims to investigate contempo-

rary media as a mean to docu-ment architectural interventions. The goal is to allow an experience of the site through the curation of others, hence, to reach an under-standing of the place through in-tellectually constructed works, but to understand then through ones own ideologies.

In other words, this project aims to curate my own vision of the Campidoglio.

lution. With an interactive time line and a series of drawings il-lustrating the tension between the Imperial and the Renaissance status of the Capitoline Hill, the programs, but most importantly the social and ideological set-tings, were studied and evaluated.



Maps allow to capture a citys qualities which would not necessarily be available from any other types of work. With the first iconographic map of Rome, the 1738 Nolli map, a totally innovative way of depicting the city was cre-ated; instead of portraying the citys architectural con-struct like all previous maps did, the Nolli map translated how the human body used the urban space. By diagrammati-cally making explicit the ten-

sion existing between Romes private and public spaces, the Nolli map introduced a com-pletely new way of making, us-ing, and interpreting maps.

This second angle of en-quiry thus focuses on enlarging the study to the broader range of the Campidoglios connec-tions and surroundings, as well as to investigate a diversity of inter-active tools. The goal is to famil-iarise ones remote experience to the specific site.

Through a Google Map cap-ture edited with an addition of layered informations, one can understand how the Campidoglio sits right at the center of Rome historical district, along the Tiber River and the Tiber Island. Fur-thermore, connections to the Colos-seum, the Roman Forum, the Baths of Caracalla, the PIazza Navona, and the Pantheon are made explicit through the urban fabric. A crucial visual and architectural directional relationship is maintained between the Campidoglio and the Vatican.

Part One: The Data Mapped Deductions


Interactive mapsA virtual experience of Rome is easily accessible through countless interactive panoramas available on the Internet. Positioned at the viewers height, the view of the scene changes as one moves his/her mouse. As much as this type of connection is time related to the user (interactive to the user move-ment) it is not time related to the scene (camera capture from a specific time, frozen in the past).

Real Time RomeExtending Nollis legacy, the project RealTime Rome, developed by MIT SENSEable City Lab as a contribution to the 2006 Venice Biennale, introduces the parameter of time into Romes map. By overlaying peoples mobility through cell phone data and onto a geographic ref-

PhotosynthThe public application allows anyone to access the virtual experience of almost anything possible. It cre-ates a 360 experience by matching aligned points on pictures. Once completed, the panorama can be viewed in a point cloud form. This model, made of all

erence, one is able to understand the dy-namics of the way human interact with and within the city. The addition of the time di-mension morphes the definition of a map into a revolutionary new tool.

of the intersecting points, aligned in the series of pictures used to create it, interacts at the users demands. The point cloud model can be export-ed in a multitude of modelling software for fur-ther editing and explorations.

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Through the mapping of the movement, the depth of field, and the voids of a cine-matic scenes extracted frames, one can start to deconstruct an image. Dissociating the frame from a movie removes the time parameter which constructs the particular of the moving picture media. However, by re-positioning the frame into its context and by linking the cho-sen information through the cameras movement, time reap-pears. This methodology allows the viewer, the third triangular

component in relationship with the site (in Rome) and the film, to be involved within a larger discourse. This allows for the analyses of the images progres-sion from a point of view outside of the cameras. The work is thus reinterpreted by making explicit the relationship between the im-ages composition and the Cam-pidoglio. The analysis of cinema inquires architectural clues: it forces to view the site in a new angle. The very structure of film making initiates the viewer to understand the space and other

qualities such as light, depth, mass, shadows, and more. Those quali-ties, all shared with architecture, were here explored through both Tarkovskys Nostalghia and Fellinis Roma.

Rome is known for its paradoxical relationship with time, and for this reason the study of the site through films represents an opportunity to reconstruct the atmosphere of the Campidoglio through the eyes of two masters of cinema.

...the cinematic apparatus implies not only the passage of time, a chronology into which we would slip as if into a perpetual present, but also a complex, stratified time in which we move through different levels simultaneously, present, past(s), future(s) -and not only because we use our memory and expectations, but also because, when it emphasizes the time in which things take place, their duration, cinema almost allows us to perceive time

After completing the The Data first part, which focused on an initial historical survey of the Campidoglios evolution through time and tools, another angle of enquiry was necessary in order to connect the experience of the site with ones remote location. This cinematic inquiry allowed for a deeper and more layered understanding of the Campido-glios import as a contemporary frame for magic to be created. Fellini and Tarkovskys curation of the Campidoglio quickly became central to the evolution of the project, and remained an essential tool until its very end.

Aumont, J. 1997. The image. London: British Film Institute

Part Two: The Revelation Tarkovsky and Fellini Filmic Studies


Tarkovskys Nostalghia

Fellinis Rome

The scene here studied is the movies very end sequence. The camera follows a group of motorcycle circling around Romes historic district and key spaces. From fountains, to roundabouts to the Piazza di Spagna, and finally

What ancestor speak in me? I cant live simultaneously in my head and in my body. Thats why I cant be just one person. I can feel myself countless things at once. There are not great masters left, thats the real evil of our time. Our hearts path is covered in shadow. We must listen to the voices that seem useless. Into brains full of long sewage pipes, of school walls, tarmac and welfare papers, the buzzing of insects must enter. We must all fill our eyes and ears with things that are the beginning of great dreams. Someone must shout that well built the pyramids. It doesnt matter if we dont. We must fuel that wish. We must stretch the corners of our soul like an endless sheet. If

The final scene of Fellinis Roma ...

you want the world to go forward, we must hold hands. We must mix the so-called healthy with the so-called sick. You healthy ones! What does your health mean? The eyes of mankind are looking at the pit into which we are all plunging. Freedom is useless if you dont have the courage to look us in the eyes, to eat, drink and sleep with us! Its the so-called healthy who have brought the world to the verge of ruin. Listen, Man! In you, water, fire, and then ashes. And the bones in the ashes. The bones and the ashes! Where am I when I am not in the real world or in my imagination? Heres my new pact with the world: It must be sunny at night and snowy in August. Great things end,

small things endure. Society must become one again instead of being fragmented. Just look at nature and youll see that life is simple, that we must go back to where we were, to the point where you took the wrong turning. We must go back to the main foundation of life, without dirtying the water. What kind of world is this if a mad man has to tell you to be ashamed of yourself? Music now. I forgot this. O Mother! The air is that light thing that moves around your head and becomes clearer when you laugh.-The music doesnt work! Help me!Domenicos monologueTarkovskii, Andrei Arsenevich, Tonino Guerra, Francesco Casati, Oleg IAnkovskii, Erland Josephson, and Domiziana Giordano. 2002. Nostalghia. London: Artificial Eye.

Fig.11

Fig.12

to the Campidoglio. The cameras point of view alternates between an outside gaze onto the bicker crew, to an inward vision from the drivers seat. Arriving at the bot-tom of the famous Cordonata, the camera cuts, only to continue

from the elevated plaza. The view revolves around the Marus Aure-lius statues various times, gazing at the three palaces, and continues its journey towards the Colosse-um and the nearby highway from which the movie ends.


Fellinis Roma is a visual archive of the directors experi-ence as a modern man in mod-ern Rome. It depicts the existen-tial and psychological fantasies introduced by the modern state. In response to Fellinis extreme feeling of alienation triggered by the industrialized metropolis, the movie was a crucial approach to investigate in relation to ones remote location of architectural studies. Through this film, Fellini

develops a new ontology of the modern mans experience in the city and thus provides a frag-mented yet deep and loaded understanding of contemporary Rome.

Fellinis Roma is the story of Rome, through the lenses of the Italian directors own subjec-tive memories and experiences; it is not the story of Rome, it is the story of Fellinis Rome.

The uncannys secret of what ought to have remained hidden is of course precisely what we opened the novel to read or came to the cinema to see, set in motion by the chiastic flip that re-temporalizes space in three steps: a gap created by desire; partial objects of desire that resist meaning and symbolization; and a re-formulation of the infra-thin gap between demand and desire.

Kunze, Donald. The Topography of Fear: Architec-tures Fourth Walls and Inside Frames.The Pennsylvania State University


Tarkovskys Nostal-ghia was the perfect coun-ter act to Fellinis Roma, as it deals with similar themes, but seen through the perspec-tive of an outsider (or, a non-roman). Tarkovsky said that: Nostalghia is about the im-possibility of people living to-gether without really knowing one another, and about the problems arising from the ne-cessity of getting to know one another. Then there is an aspect of the film which is less evident on the surface, concerning the impossibility of importing or exporting culture, of appropri-ating another peoples culture.

The scene studied is the second to last one, where the character of the mad man, Do-menico, immolates himself on the Campidoglio Piazza, after having given a passionate speech on the situation of todays world, to an uncaring audience.The scene judges the widespread culture of excess existing today, and thus explores the spiri-tual malaise of modern society.

At a RAI press conference in RomeTony Mitchell, Nosthalgia.com, Tarkovsky in Italy. http://people.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nos-talghia.com/TheTopics/Tarkovsky_in_Italy.html (accessed March 29, 2012)


The previous study fo-cuses on a geometrically driv-en analysis of the cinematic experience of two significant movies curating the site of the Campidoglio. While recogniz-ing the success of such inquiry to allow one to grasp a totally new perspective of the site, a lack of emotional and experi-ential heritage emanating from the site triggered another ap-proach to the two movies. The following two images are the

result of this second cinematic analysis. Still based on a model of mapping, the exercise aims to frame and emphasis the initial emotional response one gets of the the two scenes. The goal is to access the cinematic experi-ences emotional qualities in an attempt to reveal something that was not necessary seen either through the movies themselves, or through the initial study. In Nostalghia, it is Dominico im-molating himself amongst a cruel

and uncaring audience, in Fellinis Roma, it is the darkness and insta-bility of the nightly square.

By abstracting the scene through a laminated sequence, the images emotional baggage is car-ried through, without even under-standing what one is actually seeing. The two explorative montages thus come from a reconstruction of the two scenes atmospheric ambiance, without defining any geometric ref-erences.

Part Two: The Revelation Tarkovsky and Fellini Laminated Insight


While the previous two cinematic investigations allows a potent analysis of the Cam-pidoglio through the lenses of two contemporary master-minds, the following chapter is characterized by the devel-opment of a personal curation. Acting as a contemporary di-rector of ones own setting, the proposed scheme searches to engage and complete the cur-rent Campidoglio.

After analyzing the cin-ematic studies as one complete entity, the areas of the site that were actually not curated by ei-ther of the two films were ad-

dressed. Called the dead angles, these volumetric portions be-came the design drivers; they be-came what would be embodied through an architectural inter-vention.

It was thus from those five dead angles that was articu-lated this first proposal, which aims to allow an experience of the site from an unprecedented perspective: the underground. Faithful to a long lived Roman tradition of archaeological ex-cavation, calculated extrusions were design to framed dictated views and allow an unprece-dented architectural extension.

This is where the inception of the architectural construct started to appear; cones of vision initiated an underground perspective, leading to an exploration of curated exca-vation which now dictates the en-tirety of the projects design.

The project is thus not a renovation, nor a contemporary adaptation of a Baroque environ-ment. The consequence of the in-tervention is to submit the site to a contemporary event through which visitors can experience the space. Because of the sites author-ity, the only available room for an intervention is undoubtedly, the un-derground.

Nostalghias dead angles Fellinis Roma dead angles

Part Three: The Ascension Proposal I: The Altered Rise


NW-SENE-SW NW-SENE-SW NW-SENE-SW

NW-SENE-SW NW-SENE-SW NW-SENE-SW

The permanent por-tion of the project consists of a precise excavation of the plazas underground history. Dictated by the cinematic experiences of Fellinis Roma (1972) and Tar-kosvkys Nostalghia (1983), the underground journey frames specific views appropriated to the movies scenes dead angle. The excavation allows unprec-edented perspectives of the site while preserving an archi-tectural discourse with the two cinematographic pieces.


The ephemeral por-tions of the proposal consists of an above ground extrusion of the subterranean paths, leading to a space into which meaningful Roman events can be held.


The International Rome Film Festival is held annually during the last week of Octo-ber. Dispersed in many venues such as the MAXXI, the Esla Morante Cultural Center, the Casa del Cinema and the Parco della Musica, the week long fes-tival features the best cinemat-ographic pieces of the year, and also curates many exhibitions, workshops, conferences and out of competition screenings.

The Marc Aurelio Awards for Best Film, Best Ac-tor, Best Actress and Grand Jury Prize are determined by an international jury of seven influential personalities. The Campidoglios installation houses public screenings of the award winning movies, docu-mentaries, and short films.

Festival Internazional del Film di RomaOctober 27th - November 4th, 2012

The installation houses this celebration of light in an intimate yet grandiose man-ner. The tensile steel roof is designed to support various lighting installations. The space also constitutes a privileged position to watch the celebra-tory fireworks.

Natale di Roma, April 21st, 2013

Romes birth is cel-ebrated every year on the Campidoglio. Torches, lit pala-zzos and fireworks illuminate the plaza for the night of April 21st. Furthermore, on the Sun-day preceding the celebration, a parade starting from the Circus Massimo, and passing through the Colosseum, culminates on the Campidoglio, where long burning candles are lit to an-nounce the upcoming festivi-ties.


While the precedent version of the project is re-stricted to the area right below the plaza, the following chapter intends to broaden the scale of intervention, by extending the architectural movement from the centered plaza to the en-tirety of the surrounding Capi-toline Hill. An exploration of the relationship between the underground space, into which the architectural intervention

was allowed to exist, and the built above ground space (consisted of the many palaces and other Italian villas on the Hill), allowed to determine this extension. The plaza was thus connected to the surrounding city and meaning-ful moments, creating a dialogue between this contemporary ex-tension and a variety of previous others. Entrances were designed at the feet of the Vittoriano , in the Forum Romanum, at the bot-

tom of the famous Cordonata, and towards the Teatro Marcello. Links were made between important Roman sites in order to force the viewer into new perspectives, to add frames onto a juxtaposition of historical layers. Instead of curat-ing the piazza, the entire Capito-line Hill is now addressed, defining its boundary but also linking it to a much disconnected, yet rich and meaningful surrounding.

Fig.13

Part Four: The Connection The Expansion

VIA DEI FORI IMPERIALI

VIA DEL THEATRO MARCELLO



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FORO ROMANO

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VITTORIO EMANUELE II

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Fig.14

After extending the in-tervention outside the inward plaza itself and onto the entire Capitoline Hill territory, the last and final chapter is dedi-cated to the curation of exca-vating movements sustained by the site. A refinement in archi-tectural language and tectonics, as well as a precision of goals and directives all came together to create this final proposition. With the projects extension and the creation of the four axis linking opposite sides on the hill, the area situated right below the famous oval pave-ment became the privileged

space where the four distinct ex-periences meet. The space under the piazza is shaped by the forces of each path, individually entering the powerful oval in its own way. They collide in this subterranean space only to allow the obser-vation space to take shape. The entire articulation of surprising entrances, underground tunnels, and discovery connections links the once solitary and dismantled Capitoline Hill to its surround-ings.

The cinematographic dead angles, determined by the initial study of both Nostalghia

and Fellinis Roma, are framed by five oculi, which protrude through the piazzas astrological pavement, to come meet the underground space. A connection between the existing Galleria Lapideria (exca-vation completed in the 1980s to create an underground link be-tween the Palazzo Conservatori and the Palazzo Nuovo) was also designed to allow visitor an access to the plaza and to the museums. Distinct elevations and descents were designed for each oculus, in an attempt to accentuate the privileged positions of the five in-dividual experiences.


Part Four: The Connection The Curation

The central experien-tial space is thus articulated to allow specific views onto the plaza. The linking paths them-selves also support a number of architectural intrusions, namely in the Palazzo Conser-vatori and the Palazzo Nuovo, in the Tabularium and outside to the Piazza Caffarelli. Link-ing the Vittoriano, to the Via del Teatro Marcello, the Forum Romanum and the Cordonata, a meaningful relationship be-tween the underground cura-tion and the built site above is allowed by this internalized perspective.



The study of movement, depth of fields evolution and voids (as oppose to architectural constructs) in both Nostalghia and Fellinis Roma determined the areas which would be emphasized through the interven-tion. As illustrated in the following page, the underground excavation below the plaza was dictated by the direction and aperture of the dead angles discovered through the study. The idea is to create a contemporary curation of a historic and universal site, through the understanding of various critical influences. This way, the Campidoglio is individually ex-perienced by each visitor, through a common yet broader cultural setting, reinforcing the relationship between the sites previous, present, and fu-ture authority, standing, and embod-ied powerful message.

Fig.15


piazza oculus frame

cinematographic dead angles

piazza

ceiling

Galleria Lapidaria (Capitolini Museum)

built oculus frame

tubed network

stepped mound (oculus direction)

pedestrian network connection

Capitoline Hill


Each moment of discovery under one of the five oculus features a different perspective onto a deeper understanding of the space above; through changes in height, angles, and framed views, the ex-

perience of understanding the present, through a past architecture and a contemporary addition is made possible. They all blend into each other by the volumetric forces of the underground tunnels.

The experience of the tunnels, as well as of the dispersed entrances, focuses on the direction-al force towards the central space, as well as on the disturbance of the existing architectural fabric. By de-familiarizing the visitor from an entry point A to an exit point B, through a monochrome and dark non space, the few above ground intrusions dispersed along the four axis are made explicit.

Through the tunnels articulation, one can expe-rience moments of localization with the precisely located intrusions. The intervention perforates, yet respects the authority of the existing structures above ground. The links between the architecture and the tunnel is emphasized by the beams of natural and artificial lights which infill the spaces through the excavated intrusions.


Fig.16



Notes

Figure 1.alainlm,flickr,http://www.flickr.com/photos/alainlm/3308783682/sizes/l/in/photostream/ (accessed April 7, 2012)Picture taken February 25th, 2009.

Figure 2. Buonarroti, Michelangelo. Porta Pia; Study of the Archway, 1550s. Rome, Italy. http://library.artstor.org/library/secure/ViewImages?id=4iFCeTg4NCciJy8laCt2KngqVXkgdlZ6fA%3D%3D&userId=gjNEdTE%3D&zoomparams= (accessed April 4, 2012)

Figure 3.Coarelli, Filippo. 2007. Rome and environs: an archaeological guide. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Figure 4. Augustuss Rome. http://www.the-romans.co.uk/imperial_rome.htm (accessed September 27, 2012)

View of the Capitoline Hill in Antiquity, from the Forum Romanum, where

10. Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus

9. Temple of Juno Moneta

8. Temple of Fides

1-7. Forum Romanum

Figure 5.Russian Paintings. http://www.russianpaintings.net/russian_paintings.vphp?author=734 (accessed October 3, 2012)

Figure 6.Musei In Comune. Musei Capitolini. http://en.museicapitolini.org/servizi/tour_virtuale (accessed April 2, 2012)screen shot of the interactive map at http://tourvirtuale.museicapitolini.org/#en (accessed April 2, 2012)

Figure 7.Real Time Rome. Sketches. http://senseable.mit.edu/realtimerome/sketches/index.html (accessed April 7, 2012)

Image3 Flow: Where is traffic moving?This software visualizes the movement of mobile phone callers traveling in vehicles. It focuses on the area around the Stazione Termini and the Grande Raccordo Anulare (Romes ring road). Red indicates areas where traffic is moving slowly, green shows areas where vehicles are moving quickly, and the arrows represent the dominant direction of travel.

Figure 8.Real Time Rome. Sketches. http://senseable.mit.edu/realtimerome/sketches/index.html (accessed April 7, 2012)Image6 Gatherings: What does Rome look like during special events?How do people occupy and move through certain areas of the city during special events? This software shows the pre-recorded movements of mobile phone users during important events in Rome: Madonnas concert in Rome on August 6, 2006


Jeanne Cayer-Desrosiers 2011-2012

Figure 9.Cayer-Desrosiers, Jeanne. http://photosynth.net/

Figure 10. Ibid

Figure 11.Screen capturesFellini, Federico, Bernardino Zapponi, Turi Vasile, Peter Gonzales, Fiona Florence, Anna Magnani, Gore Vidal, and Nino Rota. 2001. Roma. Santa Monica, CA: MGM Home Entertainment.

Figure 12.Screen CapturesTarkovskii, Andrei Arsenevich, Tonino Guerra, Francesco Casati, Oleg IAnkovskii, Erland Josephson, and Domiziana Giordano. 2002. Nostalghia. London: Artificial Eye.

Figure 13.Artnet. Gordon Matta Clarks Conical Intersect (detail) http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/FEATURES/smyth/Images/smyth6-4-4.jpg (accessed March 2, 2012)

Figure 14. Photomontage fromMarcel Germain,flickr,http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcelgermain/3878787184/ (accessed March 20, 2012)Picture taken August 1st, 2009.

Figure 15 (and following montages). Photomontage fromMarco Santoro,Panoramio,http://www.panoramio.com/photo_explorer#view=photo&position=7&with_photo_id=58278080&order=date_desc&user=93014 (accessed April 2, 2012)

Figure 16. Photomontage fromPiero Ruggiero,flickr,http://www.flickr.com/photos/12031978@N04/2552410690/ (accessed April 9, 2012)Picture taken May 28th, 2005.


Is What You See What You Get ?

thesis: is what you see what you get

Documents

contemporary media

architectural tool

architecture of authority

abstract romes campidoglio

romes foundation

loaded architectural

vicos verum ipsum factum

ton humour et