The area around the Tiburtina station has been undergoing a transformation in recent years: this also applies to the new station building designed by Paolo Desideri and the ABDR bureau, to the headquarters of BNL-BNP Paribas, workshop 5 + 1AA, and a number of other facilities. In the case of Città del Sole, the municipality and the city's public transport authority ATAC took over the renovation as part of a new construction program on the site of several bus depots.
The aim of the Città del Sole project was to create a new piece of urban fabric inscribed in the context, while giving the area a new identity and using its advantageous position next to a transport hub on the border of the city center.
For the authors of the project, the key was the creation of high-quality public space and the incorporation of new buildings into the existing development: nearby are affordable housing from the late 1920s, Tiburtino II, and the House of the Sun, a 1930s apartment building with a tiered composition. On its model, the new quarter was named Città del Sole - "City of the Sun".
On the ground and first floor there are public spaces, shops and cafes, and some offices. The office building and two residential buildings are raised on the supports. One - with 72 apartments with an area of 40-120 m2, with loggias and glass shutters on the facades. Another - with eight duplex "villas" (100-160 m2), protected from the sun by mobile aluminum panels. The complex will also have a public library, housed in a 1937 industrial concrete building occupying a key corner of the site overlooking the motorway.
Labics Architects received this project as a result of winning a closed competition. Its budget was 35 million euros. Total area - 17,300 m2, including 5,500 m2 of housing, 4,200 m2 of offices, 2,100 m2 of retail on the ground floor. The library will cover another 1,700 m2.
During the construction work, a large temple of Mithras, a water supply, floor mosaics and paving from the Roman period were discovered. All finds were included in the project as an archaeological site accessible for inspection.
