Inhabit the Rome Forum. The Fondazione Alda Fendi by Jean Nouvel

26/01/2020. [Rome] Italy
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA

The new headquarters of Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti is Jean Nouvel’s first project in Rome. A historical building renovation in front of the S. Giorgio church, in Velabro, the quarter where the mythic city founders, twins Romulus and Remus, were discovered in a basket on a bank of the Tiber. The building is adjacent to the Arch of Janus, not far from the Imperial Fora.

Nouvel renovated a six-story, 3,500-square-meter complex, three contiguous housing buildings called Rhinoceros —whose name alludes to the resin statue that sits outside the building, symbolizing the power of Rome’s imperial history.

The buildings were erected between the 17th and 19th centuries.

‘I like to start with a building that you can sense has lived. It will live again, but differently. Inside, it will have a new lease of life that’s electrifying,’ and Jean Nouvel adds: ‘We’ll work starting with every fracture in the walls, starting with every type of window, with every type of material, with every window-frame...’

Jean Nouvel

Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel. Photograph by Roland Halbe

Location plan. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

Site plan. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

North elevation preliminary phase. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

West elevation preliminary phase. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

Detail elevation preliminary phase. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

Traces from the past, building preliminary phase. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

North façade zoom, preliminary phase. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

Zoom section, preliminary phase. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

Materials, preliminary phase. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

Axonometric, preliminary phase. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

Ground floor plan. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

First floor plan. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

Second floor plan. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

Third floor plan. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

Façades. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

Section. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

Colored WW section. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

Colored XX section. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

Colored ZZ section. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

Artist Studio. Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti by Jean Nouvel.

‘You don’t rehabilitate, you habilitate. You habilitate a building by giving it a status it doesn’t otherwise have...’

Jean Nouvel

As is established practice with historical buildings of this rank, each historical layer, Ateliers Jean Nouvel identified and documented, a highly detailed and thorough of building survey was carried out as the basis for the renovation.

In the course of reconstruction, Jean Nouvel ensured the differences between existing and new elements would remain clearly recognizable by choosing unambiguously contemporary materials and shapes.

In addition to galleries and shops the building houses a 24-suite hotel, operated by Spanish hotelier Kike Sarasola, called the Rooms of Rome, and a rooftop branch of Paris’s Caviar Kaspia restaurant, with terraces offering dazzling views of ancient Rome.

Says Nouvel, ‘You never make things simpler, you make them more complex...’ ‘Anything that can be decoded in a flash is of no interest to anyone anymore.’

Project description by Jean Nouvel

The Fondazione Alda Fendi - Esperimenti: a perfect viewing instrument

The Fondazione Alda Fendi – Esperimenti provides exhibition spaces (through a cultural cooperation partnership with the Hermitage Museum) and culture oriented boutiques that open onto the street, as well as small residences available to visiting artists, and even art lovers...

It stands on one of the most illustrious places in all history: the Roman Forum. The Fondazione Alda Fendi – Esperimenti occupies three former apartment buildings a stone’s throw from the Temple of Vesta and the Arch of Janus. This means the Fondazione has a front-row view of the Palatine Hill as well as panoramic 360° views of Rome, with its celebrated hills and its array of venerable old domes. We are clearly at the very heart of Roman history here, in buildings that were originally designed to be exclusively domestic, and have sustained countless alterations over time. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century inhabitants left behind walled-up windows, bizarre partitions, period tiles and jagged cracks, among other things.

Constructing anything in Rome is fraught. Architects are normally required to respect the hierarchy of historic structures, and so we’ve adhered to strict simplicity.

Over the façades, we’ve kept everything bearing witness to the passage of time... all the better to bring out the different archaeological stratifications, and to enable people to discover a building that has stopped ageing – without resorting to cosmetic surgery, either (we cherish all its wrinkles as signs of character and have preserved them). This rule reinforces the sense of how strongly these buildings are moored in history.

The context doesn’t allow substantial changes to be made to the façades, which are listed, but we’ve been able to rethink the way the surrounding landscapes are framed through the windows and from the terraces.

Revisiting the building also meant making use of all the different internal features to create 25 apartments that are all unique. Each apartment also has differently framed views, thanks to the way the windows have been knocked around over the years, with many of them being reduced in size and some even bricked up.

The really substantial changes have mainly been made inside. We developed a particular process that involved printing photographic linings on the interior shutters showing glimpses of the apartments as they were before work began. These photos create inside and outside trompe-l’œil installations that catch the natural light like reflectors, showcasing the printed images.

When the buildings are lit up at night from outside, the trees around them cast their shadows over the façades. This night-time display is made even more vividly probing thanks to colours programmed by the new interior shutters...

The touches of modernity that already existed inside the apartments have been accentuated by introducing essential state-of-the-art fit-outs such as kitchens and bathrooms. These pared-back stand- out objects are stainless-steel blocks, providing a striking contrast to the mottled walls, whose patinas are themselves revelations of the different layers of paint and plaster, fractures and mixed materials. A sculptural interpretation of the passage of time and the process of sedimentation.

The fixtures have been fitted in a clean streamlined way, so that the strongest possible contrast is set up between these objects of modern living and what remains of the ancient world now accommodating them: sections of original floor tiles have been left untouched but surrounded by new materials, while there are new steel structures for the lintels, the pillars and stairs – all of these elements now permanently marking out a new layer in the historic sedimentation. It’s a friendly conversation between opposites, a happy confrontation between different eras, from the most remote to the most modern. It’s also a meeting between two worlds, between the traces of the noblest and most sacred architectural monuments of Antiquity and these model domestic buildings that remind us that they are still alive and vibrant; that they are buildings in Rome that mean to fully enjoy their privileged position.

The bi-level rooftop restaurant, with its amazing panoramic views, is proof of this day and night: it’s a perfect viewing instrument. And the other exceptional thing about it is its capacity to finely frame all that lies before it – the ruins and umbrella pines in the foreground and, in the distance, the skyline of hills and Roman domes – just like a cyclorama.

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Architects

Jean NOUVEL – Ateliers Jean Nouvel.

Project Team

Advisor Architect to Jean Nouvel.- Aurélien Coulanges.
Project Leaders.- Project.- Alessandro Carbone, Livia Tani. / Construction.- Alessandro Carbone.
Project Architects.- Angela Bello, Michela Fresiello, Kristian Sullivan.
Computer Generated Images.- Project.- Benjamin Alcover, Mizuho Kishi. Graphic Design.- Project.- Eugénie Robert, Natalie Saccu de Franchi, Vatsana Takham. 3D Modelisation.- Angela Bello.
Interior Design & Furniture.- Ateliers Jean Nouvel.- Floriane Abello, Sabrina Letourneur.
Jean Nouvel Design.- Filippo Francescangeli, Ernesto Mistretta, Hyojin Seong.
Artistic interventions.- Photographic Installation.- Alessandro Imbriaco.

Engineers

Structures.- Pilot study.- Studio Croci & Associati / Studies.- Studio Croci & Associati
Fluides.- Pilot study.- STI ENGINEERING Srl / Etudes Studies.- STI ENGINEERING Srl.

Consultants

Cost consultant.- J&A Consultants
Project management.- J&A Consultants
Renovation.- Arch. Valeria CASELLA
Acoustics.- Ing. Stabia
Lighting design.- Viabizzuno Srl
City planning.- Arch. Alessandro STELLA
Archaeologist.- Salvatore BARRANO
Geologist.- Roberto MENICHELLI
Kitchen.- Tervi S.r.l.

Client

Agrippina Srl, Rome, Italy (Fondazione Alda Fendi Esperimenti).

Contractor

General Contractor.- RC Costruzioni.
Site Manager.- Ing. Antonino Papasergio.
Interior.- Devoto Design.
Lighting design.- Viabizzuno Srl.

Area

Usable floor area.- 2800m². Gross floor area.- 3800m².
Retail.- 300 m² (UFA) / 420 m² (GFA).
Restaurant.- 140 m² (UFA) / 190 m² (GFA) + 400 m² Terraces.
Exhibition.- 500 m² (UFA) / 652 m² (GFA).
Residences.- 1400 m² (UFA) / 1850 m² (GFA).

Programme

Renovation of an 18th century building located in the heart of the Roman Forum. The existing 3500m² will be transformed into 25 residences, of which a certain number will be reserved for artists, exhibition spaces, art galleries, cafes and a rooftop restaurant with a panoramic view of the historic center of Rome.

Ground floor.- Lobby, Shops, art galleries and a Coffee shop
1st to 4th floor.- Showroom, Residences
5th floor.- Restaurant and panoramic terraces
6th floor.- Sky bar.

Dates

Concept.- 03.2012. Studies.- 2012 – 2014. Construction.- 06.2015 - 12.2017 Opening.- 10.10.2018.

Location

Via del Velabro, Rome, Italy.

Photography

Roland Halbe.

JEAN NOUVEL

Jean Nouvel, (born August 12, 1945) is a French architect. Nouvel studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a founding member of Mars 1976 and Syndicat de l'Architecture. He has obtained a number of prestigious distinctions over the course of his career, including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (technically, the prize was awarded for the Institut du Monde Arabe which Nouvel designed), the Wolf Prize in Arts in 2005 and the Pritzker Prize in 2008.

Nouvel was awarded the Pritzker Prize, architecture's highest honour, in 2008, for his work on more than 200 projects, among them, in the words of The New York Times, the "exotically louvered" Arab World Institute, the bullet-shaped and "candy-colored" Torre Agbar in Barcelona, the "muscular" Guthrie Theater with its cantilevered bridge in Minneapolis, and in Paris, the "defiant, mysterious and wildly eccentric" Musée du quai Branly (2006) and the Philharmonie de Paris (a "trip into the unknown" c. 2012).

Pritzker points to several more major works: in Europe, the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art (1994), the Culture and Convention Center in Lucerne (2000), the Opéra Nouvel in Lyon (1993) , Expo 2002 in Switzerland and, under construction, the Copenhagen Concert Hall and the courthouse in Nantes (2000); as well as two tall towers in planning in North America, Tour Verre in New York City and a cancelled condominium tower in Los Angeles. International cultural projects such as the Abu Dhabi Louvre, the Philharmonic Hall in Paris, the Qatar National Museum in Doha, or the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2010 in London.

In its citation, the jury of the Pritzker prize noted:

Of the many phrases that might be used to describe the career of architect Jean Nouvel, foremost are those that emphasize his courageous pursuit of new ideas and his challenge of accepted norms in order to stretch the boundaries of the field. [...] The jury acknowledged the ‘persistence, imagination, exuberance, and, above all, an insatiable urge for creative experimentation’ as qualities abundant in Nouvel’s work.

Among his principal completed projects, we find the Arab World Institute in Paris, the Cartier Foundation and the Quai Branly museum in Paris, the Culture and Congress Center KKL in Lucerne, the extension of the Queen Sofia Arts Center in Madrid, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, the Philharmonic of Paris…

Among the projects currently under studies or under construction: the “53W53, Tour de Verre” integrating the extension of the MoMA galleries in New York, the residential towers “Le Nouvel” in Kuala Lumpur, “Anderson 18” and “Ardmore” in Singapore and “Rosewood” in São Paulo, the office towers “Hekla” and “Duo” in Paris, the cultural complex “The Artists’ Garden” in Qingdao or the National Art Museum of China NAMOC in Beijing… The design of the Louvre Abu Dhabi began in 2006 with Jean Nouvel’s Partner Architect Hala Wardé.

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Inhabit the Rome Forum. The Fondazione Alda Fendi by Jean Nouvel

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