Sycamore is an architecture and interior design practice specializing in residential and commercial sectors. Our aim is to provide inspiration to conceive a project and care to deliver it.

Raniero Botti is the founder and CEO of Sycamore. He is a IT registered Architect having graduated from La Sapieza School of Architecture with commendation.

Sycamore Architecture
Via Luigi Rava, 19
00149 Roma

+39 06 5757470
info@sycamore.it

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Mercato di San Giovanni di Dio

Rome

2011 -

INCIPIT: The central market, which in ancient Greece was born in the Agora, moves to ancient Rome in the Roman Forum composed of Taberna for the sale of goods.

The market has always nourished social relations by going beyond the simple act of purchasing food and goods for the needs of the family.

Piazza San Giovanni di Dio, Rome: an area with a high level of urbanization and no urban squares. The local market, a busy place during the day, turns into abandonment and decay in the second part of the day.

Planning from scratch this portion of the city aims to offer the neighborhood a new square, a new market, a place dear to the Greeks and Romans who concentrated their sociability right there and contains both of them, Market and square at the same time.

ARCHITECTURE: The architectural idea behind the project is in the roof. The composition of the roof defines an organic set of mending of the market area which in fact becomes "the horizontal elevation" for the buildings that surround it. A completely innovative market model is organized under this roof.

The architectural idea behind the project is "not just the market", but open urban squares, green areas, and quality of living spaces, which are not yet present in the neighborhood. The market reforms and becomes a meeting place, a place to stay, to have small meals, to discuss during short meetings or where the neighbors can take advantage for the other varied themes.

The second matrix of the architectural idea behind the intervention is in the roof. The composition of the roof defines an organic set of mending of the market area which in fact becomes "the horizontal elevation" for the buildings that surround it. A completely innovative market model is organized under this roof.

The new civic square will be accessible, permeable and safe, precisely because it is open to the axes of penetration and visible from them. The perimeter and the detachment from the roads are ensured by small changes in height and not by walls, following the concept of a tray containing places and functions.

A slight elevation change proposed by the project between the part towards the Gianicolense road and the area adjacent to the buildings is solved with ramps and small stairs. The ramps, in accordance with the law for the disabled, do not constitute obstacles but are an integral part of the system of practicability between the squares and the market itself.

Indirect lighting converts the roof into a lantern for the new civic square, giving a perception of pleasantness at night, and a safety that should not be underestimated.

The structure of the steel roof is supported by slender steel pillars, in order to restore an image of the lightness of the entire organism. A system of lightened IPE beams with a linear pattern, are the structural skeleton of the roof, covered with elements in Alucobond. In section, the geometry of the roof visually cancels the structural thickness at the edge, as if to emulate the thinness of a sheet of paper.

Separate portions of the steel roof are connected to each other by means of laminated wood elements, as horizontal a brise soleil that shields the sun but lets the light through, obtaining natural vertical ventilation in the squares shielded from direct solar radiation.

The finish of the Alucobond roof is matt white painted internally and, the upper part, will covered with high efficiency horizontal photovoltaic panels. The inclusion of photovoltaic panels, would make the entire market self-sufficient from an energy point of view.

The rainwater collection system may be sufficient for the irrigation of green areas and for the ordinary cleaning activity.

THE NEW KIOSKS: The light steel structure of the new spaces dedicated to sales and services will be modular and could be buildable very quickly and almost totally dry solutions. The cladding surface of the external walls is in painted corrugated sheet: a chromatic and architectural vibration that acoustically participates in the reduction of reverberation in the corridors.

Any technical plant accessories for each sales space will be placed on the roof covering of the kiosks and will not be visible: the perimeter wall will in fact be higher than the kiosk’s roof by about one meter. In the kiosks used as bars or restaurants it is possible to find a terrace on the roof slab of the kiosk accessible by a staircase.

The flooring of the entire area of ​​the new market is planned in industrial cement with high mechanical resistance resins.

THE NEW MARKET: Commercial activities are organized in relation to the characteristics and opening hours. A longitudinal central spine with two orthogonal axes can be disabled at the end of the opening cycle. A second system with commercial activities overlooking the new squares open in the evening offer support services to the users of the new civic center.

The "daily" sellers (commercial activities by road) are gathered in a covered square, towards Via Ozanam, to set up a temporary market every morning.

At the end of the opening hours, the space can perform very different functions, taking advantage of the maximum freedom of organization of the square itself and the kiosks which overlooking it.

A more conservative and mature vision of public spaces is needed, and this new intervention aims to help stimulate greater respect in citizens towards civic spaces.

Projects

41°51'22.9"N

12°27'27.9"E

Rome

16°

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