Play up! Play up! And play the game!
YAC - Rome Community Ring
“Play up! Play up! And play the game!” is a famous verse of the poem Vitaï Lampada written by Sir Henry Newbolt about a schoolboy cricketer who grows up to fight in Africa that symbolised author’s view how war should be fought in the same spirit as games.
The state of abandonment made the Forte Portuense evolve into a natural oasis where a great diversity of animals can find refuge: a green lung of pulsating life that must be made available to the public.
The project is meant to preserve the solid landscape and, at the same time, turn the Fort into a urban space.
A walkable photovoltaic paving, backlit by LED technology, will cover the Piazza d’Armi and supply the whole Fort with energy.
The wide-open space of the Piazza will become a catalyst of energy and will attract activities, producing the sufficient amount of energy necessary to set in motion the elements placed on it.
The choice of the backlight suggests different visions of the night obtained through the modulation of the light sources in order to create interesting lights involving all or part of the pavement.
Whereas, in the total absence of artificial light, you can imagine, that the sky mirrors on the night surface as it does during the day.
All the interventions in Area 2 are designed like a staging and to be considered provisional and removable.
Imagine a peaceful siege of the Fort, where an active citizenry takes possession of a characterising part of the area to overturn its paradigm: war turns into a game.
Inside the Fort, numerous and diversified activities come in succession, but they can be summed up in two areas: a wellness area (athletic circuit, spa, massage and relaxing areas, wine bar-restaurant) and a didactic-cultural one (newspaper and periodical library, multimedia library, laboratories, polyvalent rooms, exhibition areas).
These areas are conceived in such a way to support the citizenry but mainly to encourage a larger touristic base to visit the Fort located in this historical, though remote area, relative to the old town centre. Along these lines, the fortified ring can be rethought to make the suburban areas more attractive and to suggest an alternative track to the capital’s better-known touristic destinations.
Services for the neighbourhood, such as kindergartens, senior and community centres will remain situated outside the grounds of the Fort, but will be merged on the South-East side of the hill, so that they can clear the area between Via Portuense and Via Irlandesi and make it a public park.
