architecture/
Market in a Groove Box
Living and Being, in Parallel and Paradox
Where Love Flows Beyond Death
audiovisual/
Ladder Mid-Autumn
Profile
Tivoli | Competition | 2024
This is a group project designed for PIRANESI Prix de Rome XXII: Villa Adriana International Architecture Museography Seminar Design Competition.
At the heart of Villa Adriana lies the Canopus, where Emperor Hadrian once recreated the Nile River as an act of nostalgia for his deceased lover, Antinous. Inspired by this poetic gesture, our proposal introduces a new river into Villa Adriana—a metaphorical stream of remembrance and connection. Death, like an irreversible current, flows linearly under the pull of gravity. Human life drifts along this river; love and memory, inseparable from human nature, continue to flow freely beyond the boundaries of life and death.
Building upon this concept, the master plan reimagines the visitor circulation of the archaeological park through the design of a continuous water path. The route integrates existing roads to minimise intervention while redefining spatial coherence across the vast site. A new entrance is introduced and connected to the thermal pavilion we designed, allowing for independent access and management. The circulation itself becomes both a physical and symbolic journey, following the flow of water as it traverses the ancient landscape. The reorganised route begins at the northern entrance, leading visitors first to the Maritime Theatre and then to Pecile, where the fashion show is staged. Continuing southwards, the path arrives at the Grande Terme, transformed into a stone exhibition space. Passing through the Canopus—the historic heart of Hadrian’s river of memory—the new water path extracts and redirects the flow toward Antinoeion, the temple dedicated to Antinous. Finally, it descends through the roof of the thermal pavilion, merging with the landscape and completing the cycle of movement and remembrance.
An axial diagram reveals the polycentric composition of the design: the blue axes trace the geometry of the original architecture, while the red axes mark the newly inserted interventions. This dialogue between past and present guided the positioning of the thermal pavilion and the structure of the entire site.
For the fashion show, the intervention draws inspiration from the vertical rhythm of the existing cypress trees that once aligned the architectural axes. A series of mesh-wire colonnades is installed temporarily, evoking the vanished peristyles of the ancient villa while interacting lightly with the surrounding trees. The installation restores a sense of historical perspective, transforming the event into both a performance and an act of architectural remembrance.
The stone display is located at the Grande Terme, where fragments of the villa are preserved and exhibited. The design integrates functions of exhibition and storage through a modular system that protects the archaeological ground. Glass flooring defines the exhibition zone, allowing visitors to see and reflect upon the ancient patterns beneath their feet—an echo of the water reflections that guide the project’s narrative. Adjacent to it, raised wooden floors provide accessible storage areas equipped with flexible steel shelving anchored between the modules. Together, these elements balance functionality and reversibility, allowing the new structure to coexist respectfully with the ruins while continuing the story of the flowing river within the timeless landscape of Villa Adriana.
ANIMULA VAGULA, BLANDULA,
HOSPES COMESQUE CORPORIS,
QUAE NUNC ABIBIS IN LOCA
PALLIDULA, RIGIDA, NUDULA,
NEC, UT SOLES, DABIS IOCOS.
— P. Aelius Hadrianus, Imp.
HOSPES COMESQUE CORPORIS,
QUAE NUNC ABIBIS IN LOCA
PALLIDULA, RIGIDA, NUDULA,
NEC, UT SOLES, DABIS IOCOS.
— P. Aelius Hadrianus, Imp.