architect: Aniello/Tasca
location: Labico, Roma
year: 2012
photo: STUDIO 5977
The primary aim of the project is to propose solutions to encourage diverse methods of using the building, corresponding to the multiple schematic points and interests of the client. An entrepreneur in the restaurant and hospitality industry. But also individuals with countless interests and ongoing initiatives. A project to revert to where it all started, and at the same time re-launch this initiative through new objectives: a general district and, at the same time, a place of experimentation. We have, therefore, positively embraced aspects such as ambiguity, flexibility, variability, change over time and mid-course, with a view to making them all equally essential in the design of the project.
A rectangular deck measuring 100x25x1.5 metres rests on five 40x8x4-metre blocks: the galleries. Between the shifted blocks of the gallery and beneath the deck, the bridges. The deck, designed for heavy loads and only accessible from the ground, has a swimming pool. It will also be a site for small markets, summer concerts and outdoor activities. The galleries each contain, in relation to the longitudinal axis of the deck, the service areas, accesses and invariable activities. The voids of the bridges have no predetermined function and will adapt to the various activities according to the occasions. Fulcrum of the project is the chef’s gallery. With a veranda and a triangular table, a place for discussion and lectures; a small room with a fireplace; a wine cellar on display; and the central kitchen to serve the pertinent spaces. One can, therefore, eat freely in any room of the building: between the sofas and the books located on the small bridge, surrounded by a temporary exhibition on the large bridge, in the cellar with the hearth, or under the shade of a tree. The spaces furnished with minimal objects and/or constructed so as to be easily transportable, will avoid predetermined functions and hierarchical compositions.