An elegant three structure skyline, that seems to sway in the air, appears on the green hill, lined with trees, of Villa Glori between the Flamino area and the hill of Parioli. The city of Music of Rome fills the gap in an empty suburb, giving the impression of having always been there.
The project includes, other than the realization of concert halls, the creation of an artificial hill, destined as green area zone within the same structure, including a car park. ?The new park covers approximately three acres with the planting of 400 new trees, becoming a natural extension of the nearby Villa Glori.
When you are in the cavern, which is the axis to the three beetle shaped halls with large skirting boards covered natural uncovered bricks that include the surrounding services of the structure, we have the sensation of being part of the interpretation of the 'Agora' concept, already so well expressed in this city.
Three concert halls: one with 2700 seats realized in balcony form dedicated to symphonic music, one with 1220 seats and one with 700 seats. It has been totally projected to be at the service of music: the three halls, constructed in lamellar wood, externally covered with a plate of lead, the interior is in cherry wood, and they have been conceived as enormous harmonious crates.
Being in the hall gives the sensation of being inside a violin case. ?The will of the municipal administration was, first of all, to give back to the city, after its destruction in 1935 by Augusteo, an auditorium of communal property and notable prestige.
The choice of the localisation was directed principally by two circumstances: the necessity of a predominantly extensive land not excessively far from the city centre and the need to fill in an empty urban space that divided two quarters. .
The intention of realisation doesn't appear, however, fully completed. Parioli and Piazza Euclide appear far, separated from the new established neighbourhood life; this is also true in the Flaminio area, with the sports structure projected by Nervi. At the end of the concerts people go direct to the parking area adjacent, leaving the spot without any identity.
Rome is splendid but continually extending itself in the outskirts, loosing force and vigour in its identity. At times, similar to when lightening strikes in the dark, the signs indicate new apparitions in the urban web. If these singularities are unable to become live elements in the urban evolution, you run the risk of loosing the new values acquired.
This is the sensation that you receive visiting the city of music, an island in the urban ocean.
A project that blends with the morphology of the land and with the inherent character of the city but void of any connection with the urban ethic pre-established. The urbanity creates more of the city than good architecture.
Cities are made of wood, communication, of tides that blend among themselves, that mix and give life to 'events'. Here the energy, like when magnetic camps, passing near, graze each other but are unable to cross them.
At night, when the lights of the last concert go out and the public moves away, the large central caverns of the piazza of the city of music, the railings closed, simply becomes an empty and solitary space.
