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Ara Pacis Museum
Ara Pacis Museum
Rome, Italy
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Other Projects by MeierPartners Architects
Ara Pacis Museum
Rome, Italy
YEAR
2006
This
museum on the bank of the Tiber River has been designed
as a renewed setting for the Ara Pacis, a sacrificial altar dating to 9 B.C.
and now located on the western edge of the Piazza Augusto Imperatore. Planned
as part of an effort to protect Rome’s
cultural legacy, the new structure replaces the monument’s previous enclosure,
which was in a state of advanced decay. The structure consists of a long,
single-story glazed loggia elevated above a shallow podium providing a
transparent barrier between the embankment of the Tiber
and the existing circular perimeter of the mausoleum of Augustus, built circa
28 B.C.
The
altar was relocated from the Campo Marzio in 1938 during the Mussolini era, and
a system of regulating lines was applied to the project to relate the altar’s
present position to its original site. Bisecting the distance between the
present center of the mausoleum and the original site yielded a four-square
urban grid that was used as a proportional frame to reorganize the piazza and
its surroundings. An artificial obelisk is used as a historical reference on
the north-south axis through the altar.
The clarity of the volumes and the
building’s proportions relate in scale to Rome’s
ancient structures. A predominating feature of the new building is a glass
curtain wall measuring 150
feet long and 40 feet high. The asymmetrical
entry hall, defined by seven slender columns in reinforced concrete finished
with white waxed marble plaster, leads to the main hall, which houses the Ara
Pacis. The contrast between the subdued lighting of the entrance space and the
expansive top-lit and rigorously symmetrical main hall encourages a naturally
progressive circulation. The roof over the main hall rests on four columns with
skylights to maximize natural lighting and to eliminate “false shadows.”
Outside the main structure, a low travertine wall extending from within the main
hall traces the ancient shore of the TiberRiver. Building materials
include glass and concrete and an indigenous fine beige Roman travertine.
Although housing and protecting the
ancient altar was the main focus of this museum, the building also provides
space for temporary exhibitions and installations dedicated to archaeological
themes and a state-of-the-art digital library of Augustan culture. An outdoor
roof terrace above the auditorium functions as an essential part of the
circulation of the museum and includes a contiguous bar and café with views
over the Mausoleum of Augustus to the east and the Tiber River
to the west.
museum on the bank of the Tiber River has been designed
as a renewed setting for the Ara Pacis, a sacrificial altar dating to 9 B.C.
and now located on the western edge of the Piazza Augusto Imperatore. Planned
as part of an effort to protect Rome’s
cultural legacy, the new structure replaces the monument’s previous enclosure,
which was in a state of advanced decay. The structure consists of a long,
single-story glazed loggia elevated above a shallow podium providing a
transparent barrier between the embankment of the Tiber
and the existing circular perimeter of the mausoleum of Augustus, built circa
28 B.C.
The
altar was relocated from the Campo Marzio in 1938 during the Mussolini era, and
a system of regulating lines was applied to the project to relate the altar’s
present position to its original site. Bisecting the distance between the
present center of the mausoleum and the original site yielded a four-square
urban grid that was used as a proportional frame to reorganize the piazza and
its surroundings. An artificial obelisk is used as a historical reference on
the north-south axis through the altar.
The clarity of the volumes and the
building’s proportions relate in scale to Rome’s
ancient structures. A predominating feature of the new building is a glass
curtain wall measuring 150
feet long and 40 feet high. The asymmetrical
entry hall, defined by seven slender columns in reinforced concrete finished
with white waxed marble plaster, leads to the main hall, which houses the Ara
Pacis. The contrast between the subdued lighting of the entrance space and the
expansive top-lit and rigorously symmetrical main hall encourages a naturally
progressive circulation. The roof over the main hall rests on four columns with
skylights to maximize natural lighting and to eliminate “false shadows.”
Outside the main structure, a low travertine wall extending from within the main
hall traces the ancient shore of the TiberRiver. Building materials
include glass and concrete and an indigenous fine beige Roman travertine.
Although housing and protecting the
ancient altar was the main focus of this museum, the building also provides
space for temporary exhibitions and installations dedicated to archaeological
themes and a state-of-the-art digital library of Augustan culture. An outdoor
roof terrace above the auditorium functions as an essential part of the
circulation of the museum and includes a contiguous bar and café with views
over the Mausoleum of Augustus to the east and the Tiber River
to the west.
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