ARC 512b: ADVANCED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO
with Greg Lynn and Brennan Buck (Spring 2009)
Historically, the Third Arm was intended to complete the Piazza San Pietro, sealing off the Oval Piazza from the rest of the city. However, Bernini's vision never came to fruition. This project for a new reading room extension for the Papal Library completes Bernini's intended design while bringing a new monument to Rome's dense urban fabric.
The project combines two ambitions:
One, to inject the commissioned building with a secular function by elevating the public's visual experience of the Piazza through the design of a ramp that would enable public circulation throughout the entirety of the building.
And Two, through the formal analysis of Borromini, to generate - through an experimentation of various contemporary techniques - a facade that would reference the contrasting chiarscuro of the Baroque while creating a new monument for Rome....."
