Testaccio Tower

Rome, like almost all global cities, has suffered from a lack of housing development and a growth in wealth inequality which has caused an inflation of housing costs. Rome, however, also has a rich historic vernacular housing typology. How can new housing developments reinterpret the qualities of this typology while expanding and increasing density. Rome is the ideal place to demonstrate the possibility of introducing a new housing typology that could reinvigorate the ideals of the city and challenge the homogeneity of generic real estate stock that has sprung up in every global city in the world. A site in the residential neighborhood of Testaccio was selected. The project is located adjacent to the Piazza Testaccio. This site, with its surrounding shops and pedestrian activity in the plaza is ideal to demonstrate the value of a pedestrian focused residential development with co-living values.

The primary goal of the project is to incorporate the energy and vitality of the street into the interior of the building. Additionally, the project seeks to increase the density of a site for residential development without the vertical schism of the high rise. No longer are housing units isolated in the air separated by floors, accessed only by elevator and effectively segregating residents from one another. The experience of moving through the building is more akin to walking the street. All of the buildings interior circulation is condensed into 3D streets rather than double loaded corridors.