City of Sun in Rome

WORDS Amelia Brown IMAGES Fernando Guerra and Marco Cappelletti

The urban regeneration project, Città del Sole (City of Sun), by architectural and urban planning practice Labics, was awarded the European Architecture Awards 2017 “Special Prize Sustainable Innovating Project”.

This project is part of the Municipality of Rome’s initiative to redevelop a number of transport depots within the city in conjunction with local public transport authority ATAC.

The building complex is on an area covering 11 000 m² in the eastern part of Rome. The triangular plot is located between the modernised train station Tiburtina, the ICP (public housing) Tiburtino quarter, the Verano Monumental Cemetery and Piazzale delle Province.

“By virtue of the urban wisdom of the project,” wrote the architecture historian Claudia Conforti, “the working-class quarter and City of Sun merge into a complete urban unit, wrapping up a part of the city lost between monumental Rome, the historical outskirts and the convulsive metropolitan breath of the strips of the elevated and majestic Tiburtina station designed by ABDR.”

Built over different levels the ground floor features commercial activities and the public library, with offices on the first floor above and public spaces on top of that. Three buildings are “suspended” above this public area – one containing more offices and the other two for residential use.

There are two types of residences: “urban villas” and “tall houses”. The eight urban villas, 100 and 160 m² in size, are distributed over two floors plus a roof terrace and are designed as single-family homes. The tall houses, simplex accommodations, are various sizes, ranging from 40 to 120 m².

Read more about the Città del Sole here.