Stefano Boeri Architetti has inserted an entrance kiosk and a pedestrian walkway that provides access to subterranean rooms within Rome's historic Domus Aurea palace.
The new entrance is situated within Oppian Hill Park and connects with the walkway that leads to the spectacular Octagonal Room almost six metres below.
Stefano Boeri Architetti has built a walkway in the Domus Aurea palace
The palace built by Emperor Nero after the great fire in 64 AD is one of Rome's most important historical sites. The interventions developed by Boeri's Milan-based studio slot in around the existing ruins without disturbing them at all.
"The project of a new entrance to the Domus Aurea and of a pedestrian walkway to access the Octagonal Room represented an extraordinary opportunity [?] to bring back to the attention of the city one of the most evocative realities of history and Roman architecture," claimed Boeri, "allowing each visitor to descend directly into the heart of Nero's Domus." The walkway leads to the subterranean Octagonal Room
The Domus Aurea's excavated passages, vaults and hundreds of rooms require regular restoration and have been closed to the public for much of the past several decades.
Following the latest restoration phase, the Domus Aurea planned to reopen in 2020 with an exhibition dedicated to the Renaissance artist Raphael, who was inspired by paintings discovered at the site in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
The structure was designed to...