Città Dell’Altra Economia – In The Old Slaughterhouse Of Testaccio

Project Description

The “City of Alternative Economics” is a collection of youth associations working in the organic agriculture and fair trade sectors and was assigned a series of buildings by the municipality of Rome. This comprised a long arcade with iron and cast-iron sheds in front, the Pese Building and the adjacent arcade with brick-built arches. The design answer to the request for more than 3000m², specialised but flexible, is the covering and bridging of the space between the long Ersoch’s arcade and the sheds in front by means of a new iron structure that creates an original enclosed space, surrounded by a mostly glass perimeter.
The design of the new outer layer arises from the relationship to the historical structures: mainly opaque underneath the porch, transparent towards the original sheds. It is independent and adaptable in its structural components, is always discreet, yet with an autonomous design. Horizontally, the outer layer splits into modules, alternating open spaces with those that are covered or enclosed, in order to clearly emphasise the original parts and those to which new elements have been added.