The aim of the competition was to "revive" concrete as a building material, to remind about its unique features and rich history of use. For this, the participants were asked to develop a project for a cultural center (“Roman Hall of Concrete Poetry”, Rome Concrete Poetry Hall) for one of the central squares of Rome, where concrete was invented in ancient times. From the works submitted for the competition, the jury chose those that best reflect the modern possibilities for the use of concrete in construction. The three winners included the team of the Moscow design institute "Arena".
We present the works of the winners:
First place
Gino Baldi, Serena Comey
Polytechnic University of Milan (Italy)
The secret of success for the winners of the competition lies in the rejection of the traditional understanding of an architectural object. The cultural center is located underground: only the entrance remains on the surface, which also serves as a source of illumination. The approach to lighting here also differs from the generally accepted one: the emphasis is not on light, but on shadows, which allow you to emphasize the depth of the structure. The lower tier is a large assembly hall, where visitors enter by passing through a series of arched passages and auxiliary rooms. Thus, the above-ground urban architecture appears to be mirrored in this project.
Second place
Sergey Korobkov, Alexey Yakushev, Evgeny Korobskoy, Andrey Tsyplakov
Design Institute "Arena" (Russia)
In the project of Russian architects, the jury appreciated the depth of the concept and delicate work with the material, which made it possible to make something intangible, spiritual, personal out of the harsh concrete architecture. The multi-tiered space of the cultural center is also located underground, only the descent into the assembly hall here is carried out in a spiral. Tier by tier, visitors seem to learn the secrets of life, by analogy with the journey of the lyrical hero in Dante's Divine Comedy.
Third place
Evelyn Lam, Dave Holborn
University of Waterloo (Canada)
Going down to the poetry center, designed by Canadian students, the visitor gets the opportunity to pause, escape from everyday problems, and find answers to exciting questions. The bustling city is contrasted here with the underground kingdom of poetry, and the multi-layered concrete structure is the embodiment of cultural and historical layers hidden from the human eye in everyday life.
