Italian Space Agency – Rome office

An architectural landmark in the Roman landscape dedicated to spatial research and innovation

5+1AA Project (today two separate studios: Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia and Gianluca Peluffo & Partners)
Location: Tor Vergata, Rome - Year of completion: 2012

The new headquarters of the Italian Space Agency represents one of the most significant architectural works in southeastern Rome, an ever-changing area dedicated to scientific research and innovation. The complex is located near the Tor Vergata University Campus, nestled in a still open and sparsely urbanized area, where the building stands out as a strong and recognizable landmark in the landscape.

An architecture for research and representation

The project, designed by 5+1AA, stems from the desire to create a workplace and a place of representation for the Italian scientific community working in the space sector.
The architectural composition is based on a logic of distinct but interconnected volumes, which are organized around a large central space for circulation and gathering. This "controlled dissociation" of the buildings becomes the dominant formal theme: a system of geometric blocks that interact with each other through cuts, passages, and internal courtyards, generating a variety of perspectives and a dynamic balance of solids and voids.

The theme of the project is the search for balance.
A formal balance based on dissociation.
A building consisting of different functions, a series of distinct structures, must be constructed through a compositional process that involves the structures themselves and the interstitial spaces, thematizing the circulation system and the connections.
The search for Synthesis, inherent in the creative-design process, must address and resolve this dilemma. Perhaps through the ease of a Metaphor.
In this case the Metaphor is the lack of gravity, the joyful floating, which suddenly finds a moment of equilibrium.
Dissociated balance because it is not based on symmetry, on the balancing of weights with respect to one or more axes, but on a suspension of masses, corresponding to a perceptual system of movement and connection. (www.atelierfemia.com)

Matter and light

The architectural language is essential, dominated by the contrast between the surfaces black and compact main volumes and the elements white and bright of the load-bearing structures and glass bodies.
Natural light enters the interior spaces through large windows and skylights, which draw visual paths toward the sky and enhance the transparency of the common areas. The interiors are distinguished by a sober and rational character, where materials and finishes emphasize the institutional and technological function of the building.

Dialogue with the context

Inserted in an urban countryside still in the process of being defined, the building stands as a autonomous object, but not alien to the landscape. Its horizontality, the suspended volumes and the arrangement of the external spaces refer to an idea of “land base” for space activities, a tangible symbol of the encounter between scientific research and contemporary architecture.
The decision to locate the headquarters near a university and scientific hub strengthens the dialogue between institutions, universities, and research centers, positioning ASI as a key hub in a regional network dedicated to innovation.

Architecture as a public image

In addition to the functionality and efficiency of the spaces, the building is conceived as visual representation of the Agency's role: an institution projected towards the future but rooted in the present, capable of communicating the complexity and precision of spatial research through a rigorous and symbolic architectural language.
The headquarters becomes like this an icon of institutional identity, where the architectural form is not just a container, but an integral part of the message of progress, innovation and scientific culture.