Parco La Serenissima
Roma 2017
Estensione 60 ha
In collaboration with Legambiente e GRAB
The circular shape dominates the overall design of the park. The circle evokes what has no beginning or end, it is the ideal representation of time, of the year, of day and night, of the eternal return and therefore of immortality.
The project was conceived to connect a section of cycle path to the GRAB cycle path that runs internally through the park for about 3 km, connecting the Serenissima Station to the Prenestina Station in a totally naturalistic context. The two cycle paths meet in the South, after the Serenissima station, along a roof garden above the railway line which, at the east limit of the area, descends to the same level as the park.
From a symbolic point of view, the sacredness of the site, given by the presence of the necropolis, is represented by seven large hills covered by a spiral-shaped road that ends at the top; they represent the "sacred" part of the park, that is the seat of the commemorative trees and that for the dispersion of the ashes in nature. They are a tribute to Rome and the expression of a complete number, like the cycle of life after death and the number of creation.
The spiral, designed by the path, expresses the meaning of the inner journey that every man must make from the outside, up to the most intimate, deep and spiritual part of himself.
The seven hills, while wanting to detach themselves from the ground by virtue of what they represent, coexist in harmony with the most vital part of the park and are close to the archaeological museum, stretches of cycle path, the vegetable gardens and the vineyard, one in particular emerges from the waters of the lake and can be reached only by boat.
Complying with the morphology of the terrain, and to create acoustic barriers against the highway, along the north side, more naturalistic hills have been designed in order to push all the park's activities into the central part, compensate for the visual impact and favor the drainage of run-off water.
On the south side, just before the Serenissima Station, the archaeological park opens up directly to visitors along a route that winds from West to East for about 500m.
On the same slope, a reinforced concrete wall, more than five hundred meters long and at least five meters high, recently built to contain the access road to the parking lot, has been completely covered with earth and containment nets in order to simulate a green slope and thus demolish it visual impact.
For an aesthetic issue and to reduce the impact of electromagnetic waves, in order to make the park more usable and healthier, the current was buried, currently transmitted on extremely invasive pylons.
The overall design of the park can be divided into two distinct parts, although connected to each other, separated by the passage of the Viale della Serenissima.
To the west, a morphologically more articulated and therefore more naturalistic part, a large lake has been designed crossed by the cycle / pedestrian path. It is the fulcrum of the park and all its connections, home to one of the seven hills. Still on the same side, the archaeological museum, a skate park and the playground complete the activities available to the park.
The archaeological museum, on a circular plan, stands on a lower level than the park level for a more harmonious and low visual impact. Unlike the hills, on which you climb, here, to reach the structure the visitor must descend along a semi-circular path, as in a journey back in time. The museum was designed not only to preserve and make available the sum of all the knowledge acquired during the excavation of the Collatina necropolis, but also in order to return a site to the finds of the excavations of Casalbertone, just outside the intervention area, currently inventoried and kept waiting for the right location.
To the east of the Serenissima, a wetland characterized by outcropping springs has been redesigned with a circular nymphaeum half covered by a long pergola and, like the hills, is destined for the dispersion of the ashes through water-soluble urns.
This is the lower part of the park, with an agricultural vocation due to the flat land morphology and the presence of a water network. Here, as sound waves that depart from the hills, take shape the orchards, the vineyard and the garden of the "forgotten fruits", plants of ancient tradition, abandoned or set aside in favor of more productive crops, which need to be recovered.
Among vegetable gardens and orchards, a theater for performances and concerts, also on a circular plan, has a stage between two diagonal paths that point to the nymphaeum and one of the hills.
Accompanying the park, interactive totems are positioned at various strategic points along the routes in order to geolocalize the trees of interest, obtain botanical information, indications on the most significant points of the park and the neighborhood.
Finally, the park is crossed by a system of trails in stabilized beaten ground and by a cycle path of about 3km and is served by four accesses and three parking lots with 365 parking spaces. The two parts are connected to the North by a bridge that passes over the Viale della Serenissima and to the South by an existing underpass. Furthermore, for the connection to the GRAB, the presence of three railway stations (Prenestina, Serenissima and Palmiro Togliatti), the proximity to the underground line B (Ponte Mammolo and Santa Maria del Soccorso stops) and the presence of the line 5 of the tram along all via Prenestina, the area is very well served by city mobility services.
