Temporary structure for archaeological relics inside the ‘Villa Dei Quintili’

The building is inside the Archaeological area of the Villa dei Quintili, between Via Appia Antica and Via Appia Nuova, an authentic archaeological park open to public visitors. The client intentions were to create a temporary structure to shelter, clean and restore the archaeological finds coming from the adjoining excavations. The relation with the historical and natural context played a central role in the project. The close roman cistern, the surrounding vegetation, the different skylines which frame the building view, until the ground itself upon which it lays, have somehow deeply determined the material choices. Materials are essentially two: toughened glass and cor-ten steel. Glass is introduced without the frame and creates a facade which alternatively either reflects the landscape or appears completely transparent depending on the weather conditions. Cor-ten steel, disposed in different formal solutions, covers all the rest of the building and, in its natural process of oxidation, tends to merge with surrounding colors. Main structure is made of painted galvanized steel; insulating panels, covered with expanded steel sheets towards the interior and cor-ten steel sheets for the exterior are used for plugging, roof included. The long elevations are treated in different ways: the front side is more open and transparent to reveal the stocking process of archaeological finds that takes place inside the building; the rear elevation is necessarily more hermetic, fragmented in several horizontal lines made of U-shape cor-ten steel elements, to reduce volume thickness and create a low, stretched image similar to the ancient roman cistern standing in the nearby.