thermae

Rome, Italy

fall 2017

The ancient Roman bath is not only a complex for bodily cleansing, it is the architectonic embodiment of Roman state’s curation of sociopolitics of the city. Thus in this design exercise for an urbanistically generative thermal complex in Rome, my proposal refuses to only provide a monumental bath and challenges the prompt by offering infrastructural program such as public housing, parks and an underground water treatment facility. 

While the above ground structures are separated into three programmatic sections, all three are connected through an underground network of tunnels and canals. 

As each program requires different scales of structures, the proposal adapts a unique facade language to foster aesthetic harmony across the site and the diverse set of programs.

Advisor: George Hascup