Rome's New Musical Boxes

Italian renowned architect Renzo Piano designs Parco della Musica in ancient Faminio

It is doubtlessly an intimidating challenge to improve the architecture of Rome, but leading Italian architect Renzo Piano may have done just that with his design of the city's new Parco della Musica. This new music complex, almost a decade in planning and construction, not only provides Rome with attractive new musical venues, but also acts as a large-scale infill project by returning a previously underused site to the city's urban fabric.
Parco della Musica officially opened last year and the complex boasts three auditoriums as well as a 3,000-seat amphitheatre. Surrounded by hundreds of trees which merge with the neighbouring Villa Glori park of the Flaminio district, Piano calls the buildings "music boxes" which fly above a sea of vegetation. The complex is typical of the bold architectural statement that launched Piano's international reputation. In the 1970s, the Genoa architect teamed with British architect Richard Rogers to design the Centre Pompidou in Paris, a daring new cultural centre featuring mechanical devices such as escalators and ventilation systems prominently showcased on the building's exterior. Such devices are not on show in Rome's new music complex. Instead, Piano's boldness shines through in the three building shapes, which resemble a trio of friendly spaceships which have landed in the historic city.
The largest hall of Parco della Musica contains 2,500 seats and is intended for symphony concerts only. The hall's roof is a sumptuous American cherry wood, ideal for the room's acoustics. A second hall is a 1,200 seater with adjustable staging and seating. The smallest auditorium has seating for 700, but is capable of hosting a variety of events, including opera, chamber music and baroque concerts. As befitting the purpose of the complex, room acoustics were paramount to Piano's design and intended as part of the musical performances. "These halls are large musical instruments, but instead of producing sound, they capture it and return it enriched," Piano says. Lead panels were chosen for the buildings' exterior cladding because of the material's good acoustic insulation properties, but the architect notes that lead has been the traditional choice for Roman domes because it ages well.
Like many Roman construction sites, work at Parco della Musica unearthed the remains of an ancient Roman villa. Artifacts from the fourth century AD are now displayed in a museum in the music park. Situated between the Tiber River and Parioli Hill and a neighbour to Pierluigi Nervi's majestic 1960 Olympic complex, Parco della Musica has also effectively filled a gap in an outlying area of Rome. The City chose well when they selected Piano for this important urban project. In addition to the spectacular Pompidou complex in Paris, the Genoa architect, now in his mid 60s, has received acclaim for projects such as an art museum in Houston, a football stadium in Bari and an Osaka airport. Piano was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Prize for architecture in 1998. His new projects include museums in San Francisco and Atlanta, a new building for the New York Public Library and a downtown skyscraper for the New York Times.
The veteran architect Piano seems to have found a comfort zone between art and science and imagination and precise execution. Echoing the exploits of another famous son of Genoa, Cristoforo Colombo, Piano compares architecture to a life at sea. "Architecture is about exploration, landing on a new island every time," Piano says. "As an architect, you are always looking for Atlantis".

Publication Date: 2004-10-10
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=4479