HISTORICAL BOOK

EDIFICIO POLIFUNZIONALE
STUDIO PASSERELLI
ALI AL HADI JAAFAR
MARIA CAMILA RODRIGUEZ RUIZ
MARIA PAULA VILLA CABRERA
LEONARDO VESPRINI

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO

A.Y. 19/20

SECTION A
LUIGI SPINELLI
FEDERICO BUCCI
POLO TERRITORIALE DI MANTOVA
 Edificio Polifunzionale - Studio Passarelli Passerelli
Historical Book

content

behind the idea 3

studio passarelli: the minds 9

ancient edificio polifunzionale 15

bibliography 22
intro

The compositional analysis develops around the concept of “abstraction of the past”.
It has been noted, in fact, how the five buildings in the studio are in direct relation with
Roman architectural history and its most splendid periods. These buildings, designed by
different architects, while showing modern forms and in step with their times, succeed,
through a careful and masterly reworking of the architectural elements typical of ancient
structures, to create a tangible link with the past.
The analysis that has been carried out on the different buildings, therefore, tries to relate
the main characteristics, found on the study buildings, with the formal and architectural
solutions of pre-existing buildings in the Roman city and referable to the different histori-
cal and artistic periods. This interesting procedural approach makes it possible to com-
pare the apparently distant realities of the different architectural apparatus and relate their
aesthetic, structural and functional characteristics, highlighting the intrinsic and resonant
link between past and present realities in their most intimate aspects. The focus is there-
fore on the study of the context, spatial composition, language and sequence of spaces
that distinguish the various buildings.
Through the study of the elements that make up the building, therefore, we come to the
identification of the relationships that unite the modern with the past and the abstract
process used by the architect towards history.
behind
the idea
istituto romano
dei beni stabili
Istituto Romano di Beni Stabili S.A. was
founded on March 1904 and directed by
the engineer Eduardo Talamo. It is dedica-
ted to the real estate sector in an exclu-
sive way, as a direct operator and as a
consultant for those who, at various levels
and with different objectives, invest in real
estate. Its corporate purpose was to carry
out operations of any kind concerning real
estate.
In 1940, it changed its name to Sciap (So-
ietà Anonima Immobiliare Padovana). It
became part of the Romagnoli Group in
1886 and in 1987 it assumed its current
name and in 1987 it assumed its current
name. Repeatedly incorporated into major
real estate companies in 2018 it merged
with the French company Fonciere des
Regions giving life to COVIVO.
The company commissioned Studio Pas-
sarelli, then led by Lucio, Vincenzo and
Fausto, to design a new building on the
site already occupied by a previous de-
molished building overlooking the Aurelian
walls.
The idea of the client and the designers
was to create a new building capable of
having a strong characterization and being
clearly identifiable within the urban fabric
of the Ludovisi district, and which would
almost constitute an “entrance” to the hi-
storic center of the city. For this purpose,
the company gave carte blanche to the ar-
chitects’ free inventiveness.
These, having to deal not only with the Au-
relian walls, characterizing and looming hi-
storical pre-existence located a few meters
from the project lot, but also with various
religious buildings designed by Father Tul-
lio half a century earlier as the church of
St. Teresa and the convent of the Fathers
Montfort.
The careful and meticulous design leads to
the creation of a unique building of its kind:
the free use of the balconies, the clear
contrast between the various blocks and
the mirrored glass break with the historicity
of the surrounding environment and at the
same time they are incorporated through
play of shadows, lights and reflections.
The contribution from the Public Admini-
strations, as well as from the client (Istituto
Romano Beni Stabili), which approved a
project that exactly complies with the regu-
lations, but undoubtedly particular, giving
confidence to the planning, was decisive.
Image of Mussolini and the Casa Ba-
lilla poster.

Picture of the main facade of the GIL

building.

5
typological
problem

The multifunctional building designed by

Passarelli “rich, complex and articulated”
meets the requirements imposed by the
municipality and the needs of the Beni
Stabili Company, owner and promoter of
the new construction.

The aim of the company was to replace an

old building of lesser volume placed in a
particular lot: we are in the Ludovisi district,
inside what was once the park of the villa,
and a few meters from the monumental
remains of the Aurelian walls .
The client’s need was to exploit the strategic
position of the site by creating a modern
building with a strong (scenographic and
monumental) imprint, capable of hosting
various functions.

A new approach, therefore, derived from

foreign models that leads designers to
grapple with a “multifunctional” building.
The functional organization chart therefore
provides for the insertion of shops, offices
and various residential types within a single
building.

6
It is precisely this aspect that is explored by
the designers and used to give character to
the building, discordant with the previous
examples existing in Italy and abroad.
Passarelli do not therefore try to dress a
single building by differentiating only the
internal distribution but start directly by
identifying the various functional blocks
from the outside.
This creates a construction consisting of
various elements stacked on each other
and characterized by different design
choices (linguistic and distribution) capable
of satisfying the needs of each single
functional block.

Perhaps the most well-known and

photographed building in the last fifty years
in Rome. It derives from the commitment
of the client and the designers to create
a work strongly characterized by the
careful interpretation of the rules, which
has allowed a good use of the internal and
external spaces, by the separation and
vertical connection of the three functions:
commercial, executive and residential.

7
s
studiothe minds
main
facts

1903
Tullio Passarelli designed the Churc of
Santa Teresa in Corso Italia and the Chur-
1869 ch and convent of Padri di Monfort at the
Tullio Passarelli born in Rome. corner between via Sardegna and via Ro- 1922
magna.
1898 Lucio born.
1941
Graduatation in Civil Engeneering. 1904
1929-30 Tullio Passarelli died.
Vincenzo born.
1899 Tullio Passarelli hold the tile of president of The studio is hold by the first two sons,
He designed De Merode Insitute in Piazza 1910 the Accademia di San Luca, and he also graduated in Architecture and Civil Enge-
di Spagna. Fausto born. recieve the title of Accademico Nazionale. neering.
1869

1900

1940
10
 1962
1969
The studio take part in the developement
The studio design the new headquarter of
of the new General Regulatory Plan for the
Instituto Immobiliare Italiano in Roma-EUR
city of Rome.
district.

1963 The studio take part in the developement

1945
Lucio Passarelli together with his brothers
Vincenzo and Fausto, inherited the studio
from their father Tullio, giving continuity to
a family-run professional reality that now
spans three centuries.
From the post-war period the activity of
the Passarelli studio is led by the younger
Lucio, interpreter of an architectural mo-
dernism.
1945
1950
The studio, holded by the sons of Passe-
relli, design the headqarter of Istituto Im-
mobiliare Italiano and the Ufficio Italiano
Cambi in Via delle Quattro Fontane.
They design the “Casa Generalizia” and of the “Studio Asse” about the new office
the college Marymount in via Cassia. zone in Rome
1963 1970
Incharged by the Istituto Beni Stabili, the They design the FIAT Directional Center in 2008
studio design the multifuncitonal building Torino. They deisgn the Palace of Congress in Ric-
in Via Campania.
cione
1967 1996
They design the Italian Pavillion at the They start the design of the new entrance 2016
EXPO in Montreal with Giulio Carlo Argan. of the Musei Vaticani in Rome. Lucio Passarelli died.

1950

1960

2000
11
biography
The activity of Studio Passarelli started
in the late XIXth century with Architect
and Civil Engineer Tullio Passarelli (1869
- 1941), designer of many important bu-
ildings in Rome such as the S. Giuseppe
Institute, the De Merode College, the Chur-
ches of S. Teresa and S. Camillo, the Stock
Exchange at Piazza di Pietra, the General
Warehouses at the Tevere river Port.
Lucio Passarelli graduated in civil engine-
ering in 1945 (honorary degree in archi-
tecture in 2011), together with his brothers
Vincenzo and Fausto, inherited the studio
from their father Tullio, giving continuity to
a family-run professional reality that now
spans three centuries.
From the post-war period the activity of
the Passarelli studio is led by the youn-
ger Lucio, interpreter of an architectural
modernism that finds its reasons above
all in technique, expressing a confidence
in progress adhering to the spirit of recon-
struction and the economic boom. The
interest in structural and plant experimen-
tation, together with functional rigor in the
design approach, translate into a language
that offers for every occasion always new
variations of the “modern”, welcoming
(and sometimes anticipating) the sugge-
stions that come from contemporary re-
search. The multipurpose building in Via
Campania (1964-65), entered by Bruno
Zeviamong the masterpieces of the 20th
century, it is a “layered” architecture that
masterfully summarizes the identity of a
complex city like Rome and fits graceful-
ly into the historical fabric, despite being
decidedly modern: in the project they are
faced with cutting-edge solutions complex
themes such as the curtain wall, the inte-
gration between the structural and plant
systems and spatial flexibility.
Founder of INARCH in 1959 together with
Zevi and Academician of San Luca since
1970, Passarelli has added to his profes-
sion an intense cultural activity, incessantly
animating the disciplinary debate in various
institutional venues and becoming a refe-
rence figure for Roman architectural cultu-
re. His contribution to the discussion on the
future layout of the city with the founding
of Studio Asse in 1967 was fundamental
(with his brother Vincenzo and Zevi, Ludo-
vico Quaroni, Riccardo Morandi and Vincio
Delleani), who produced a series of studies
on the Axis equipped and on the Eastern
Directional System, turning ambitious “vi-
sions” of the 1962 PRG forecasts which
identified a vast area for management fun-
ctions in the east. Passarelli demonstrates
his interest in the urban scale not only in
the design of office centers (among those
realized, the one for FIAT in Corso Ferrucci
in Turin, with Quaroni) but also for large re-
sidential projects such as Vigne nuove and
Torrevecchia (the latter with Pietro Barucci
and Marcello Vittorini), made at the end of
the 70s as part of the first PEEP.
In the years of the postmodern wave, Pas-
sarelli is among the few Roman architects
to remain anchored to an idea of modernity
that rejects any nostalgic attitude. And it is
above all in the ability to instill in the project
values that are always new and adherent
to a reality in continuous transformation
that can be summarized by its legacy, al-
ready collected by the new generation of
professionals active in the study.
Tullio’ sons Vincenzo (dead in 1985), Fau-
sto (dead in 1998), Lucio and, recently,
Lucio’s son Tullio, Maria and nephew Tullio
Leonori have entered the Studio assuring
continuity and expansion. The Studio’s
production has ranged in various fields:
projects and buildings for industrial and
financial institutions, private and public
housing corporations, research and deve-
lopment studies for educational buildings,
town and country planning, urban redeve-
lopment and restoration, etc.
The Studio is represented in various pu-
blic bodies and cultural associations as
the National Arts Academy of San Luca,
the National Institute of Architecture (IN.
ARCH.), the National Urban Planning In-
stitute, the Pontifical Arts Academy of the
Pantheon and in numerous Governmental
Committees. Winner of numerous prizes:
IN.ARCH. in 1961, 1964, and 1969; Grand
Prix d’Architecture du Cercle d’Etudes Ar-
chitecturales for the New Wing of the Va-
tican Museums, the Mention Spèciale du
Concours Cemburean in 1975; the first pri-
ze for the best building in the last 50 years
from the Council of the Engineers in 1984;
the prize Europa Nostra 1995/96 for the
restructuring of the Aschieri’s building into
the new LUISS University.
13
 edificio
ancient
polifunzionale
abstraction
of the past

The abstraction of the past and the histo-

gin to develop from this moment. Future, in
rical analyzes that are carried out for this
this case, can be compared to contempo-
example will be different, this building is
rary buildings from which this design could
different from being a design that propo-
have been inspired.
ses new concepts and ways of approa-
The site owned by the Roman Institute of
ching the history that surrounds it, it does
Beni Stabili, an important real estate hol-
not simply have inspirations in architectu-
ding company, settles between Via Cam-
res that precede it, but also seeks to bre-
pania, Via Romagna and via Sardegna,
ak with the traditional standards that were
immediately within the Aurelian Walls. Pla-
born for contemporary architecture at the
ced in a strategic position, on the
time, the analysis will be divided into two
edge of the consolidated city and the new
different types of comparisons, which
expansions of the beginning of the cen-
are: the relationship of the building with
tury, the building marks the beginning of
the classical and past concepts, which
the Roman historical center and therefore
is directly related to the context historical
finds itself having to dialogue, not only with
in which the building is located, and se-
other buildings of its time but also with the
condly, the new interpretation and design
subsequent historical stratifications pre-
that is developed in the upper part of the
sent in the area and, above all, with the
building, which represents a new aesthetic
remains of the walls facing it.
and contemporary concept that would be-

16
The need, therefore, to create a building
in some way linked to the context leads
the Passerelli studio to innovative and par-
ticular solutions capable of giving light to
a building that is clearly modern but re-
spectful of the past. Unlike other modern
buildings built in Rome, however, the
building designed by Passerelli does not
seek to establish stylistic relationships,
recalling compositional principles con-
solidated within the Roman architectural
panorama to recall languages and
elements of the past, not at all: the
new building is modern in shape and
stylistic choices and breaks with tradition.
A question therefore arises: how can this
building be in contact with the Roman past
if it has these formal characteristics? The
architects, playing with ingenuity, devised
a mirror building that dematerializes: the
context is therefore reflected and emula-
ted in a symbolic way by the base part of
the building while the overlying structure,
just as if it were an ancient ruin, demate-
rializes reaching out towards the sky. The
only element of direct contact with the
past thus becomes the reflection of
the Aurelian Walls, an element of temporal
continuity, against which we have iden-
tified buildings of particular interest, “chan-
geable” over time, and replaceable with
buildings of another era in comparable
to them typologically or in size.
An element that plays to reflect the past
that surrounds it but that additionally emu-
lates it, is a monolithic volume that tries to
be invisible, reflecting what surrounds it
but without neglecting the heaviness that
an element like this represents, the hea-
viness can be seen reflected in the street
of the floor of the building and its relation-
17
 ship with pedestrians that are just below
the overhang, the low height between the
overhang and the ground and the solidity
that is perceived from the pedestrian per-
ception, to feel the roof of this large volume
so close, it is clear that it is a monolithic
element that is gigantic and heavy, almost
emulating the heaviness and solidity of that
element that reflects, in this case on the
main facade, the Aurelian walls.
There may not be a direct relationship of
a representation or withdrawal from the
past, however concepts such as this, the
monolithic, are constants that the Pasarelli
study maintained in relation to the megali-
thic wall. They have understood the sym-
bolic and aesthetic importance and have
decided to respect and duplicate it with
the mirrors, but they have not let their buil-
18
ding simply disappear before the imponent
context, but they decide to make, in their
own way, a gigantic invisible block, which
is perceptible only when the pedestrian
approaches him directly.
The spaces occupied by “historic” buildin-
gs are freed and again occupied by the ar-
chitectural examples of contemporary Ro-
man buildings: this game thus leads to the
definition of an ancient-new hypothetical
fabric. By analyzing the typological plans
of the comparison buildings and the
ground floor plans, it is possible to identify
similar spatial composition schemes.
Even analyzing the urban fabric, one rea-
lizes how the historical variation of some
key elements does not lead to the loss of
value of the new building. The work done
by Studio Passerelli, in fact, leads to the
creation of an extremely modern building
that is able to stand up to the comparison
with the stratifications of the context.
For the second part of the analysis of the
building, there is the residential part of
the complex, a very contemporary design
that completely deconstructs the first part
of the building. This second part can be
understood as the deconstruction of the
great monolith that was built in the lower
part, a deconstruction of traditional archi-
tectural values that is reflected in different
planes and volumes that change position
on each floor, additionally, thanks to the
unique shape of the lot, and the alignment
that breaks the monolith, the upper part
seems to be running from the axes of the
element below and creating new angles,
giving the perception that the upper part,
not only has different volumes and planes
that are coming out , but additionally that
it has a location that is rotating on an axis
and that the protruding figures are not pa-
rallel, when in reality they are. The whole
perspective of the building changes when
it is seen as a pedestrian.
The use of different languages and for-
mal solutions is not simply the result of the
arbitrary stylistic choices of the architects
but also derives from the functional ne-
eds of the interior spaces: the different
typology of holes and transparent clo-
sing elements is carried out in the light
of the space they are located at lighting:
shops, in need of particular transparency,
have large elements, offices needing a lot
of light and privacy use mirrored curtain
walls, while the different rooms of the
houses have window elements of different
sizes according to the lighting needs
For this compositional element it can be
compared with Frank Loyd Wright’s ma-
sterpiece, the fallingwater. Aesthetically
and compositionally the elements are very
similar, flat and volumes that are compo-
sed in a straight way on a common axis,
from which they come off without having
very changing angles, simply at 90 degre-
es. It is known that Wright would inspire
this design in Japanese architecture, to
create the perfect balance between natu-
re and construction, having volumes that
seem to be turning between the reflections
of nature that sustains it.
These concepts very similar to what they
put in the Pasarelli study, but in this case
taken to the city, having the reflection of
history, a different kind of nature but that is
also indomitable, it is also implacable and
in many cases it is a priority, Nature and hi-
story are reflected in these designs that are
19
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