The Celio Hill has remained remarkably unaltered for the last few centuries, a rare condition for Roman real estate. One can assume that buried within its depths is a palimpsest of archaeological remains layered between ancient footprints and echoes and it bestows a subterranean potential upon on this place. This invokes questions of “what was here before?”, “what has been concealed by time and dirt” and “what was left to ruin?” and consequently how can we reignite the memory of such elements? 

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The main site component is an elevated path to make eternal the ruins of the Aqueduct Claudius. Beyond hints of this structure along Via San Gregorio no foreign contemporary form should be visible from the existing and ancient vistas from the Colosseum and Palatine Hill and will be submerged towards these sides of the site. Instead we extend or reintroduce public spaces of various scales and programs to confront and engage the existing archaeological zones and monuments. These piazzas embody the theatre typology and use the panoramas of Rome as its set backdrops and circular seating to frame the spaces. The Piazza del Colosseo provides landscaped steps to connect the Colosseum to the site and the Piazza di San Gregorio programmatically restores the street as a commercially active market space. The new Piazza del Celio created is the central public space on our site and represents the planned free space. It is internal to our site, protected from the activity of the road and heavy perimeter circulation and connects the Piazza del Colosseo and the Piazza di San Gregorio with a straight axis. The tram station orients itself to the axis mundi of the Tempio of Claudius from its west gate and uses the existing hill to ascend to the level of the gardens.