Christian Caprara

Thesis in Architectural Design

THE NEW BATHS OF ROME: PROJECT FOR A WELLNESS PARK

Thesis by Christian Caprara
Contact Email:christiancaprara@libero.it
University of Rome "La Sapienza" Faculty of Architecture "Valle Giulia"
Speakers: Prof. Arch. Renato Partenope - Prof. Arch. Franco Purini
Co-supervisors: Prof. Arch. Lina Malfona
Academic Year 2013 - 2014

The theme proposes the development of a lot located between the local center of Cinecittà and the neighborhood of Torre Spaccata. A site, the one chosen, that physically separates two nuclei belonging to the same urban fabric of the Roman suburbs.

“The urban growth of the X Municipio, Tuscolano-Cinecittà (Municipio VII, formerly X), took place along the Via Tuscolana, which connects the centre of Rome with the Castelli Romani, and had a strong expansion in the period immediately following the war and in the 60s”. [...] “It is here, in fact, that in the early 50s, INA-casa implemented a major building project; [...] at the same time, the construction of the Don Bosco centre began with the church and the square in front, around which the neighbourhood of the same name later arose. The Cinecittà studios had already been built on Via Tuscolana in 1937” [...] “and the headquarters of the Istituto Nazionale Luce and even today these structures, with their presence, characterise the area. Of great archaeological and naturalistic importance is the presence in the area of the Parco degli Acquedotti, part of the larger Appia Antica Regional Park.” [...]
“In the municipality's territory, many interventions are planned aimed at the redevelopment of spontaneous areas that arose during the 70s, when uncontrolled urban development of the suburbs took place. The New General Regulatory Plan aims to reunite these areas with the city through the creation of a vast network of infrastructures and services”. [...] “The local centrality of Cinecittà also includes a transversal element that serves to strengthen the connection between the Acquedotti park and the future Centocelle park, constituting the environmental system of the south-east area of the city” [...] “included in the urban and metropolitan centrality of Torre Spaccata. [...] The objective of the centralities will be to provide elements of quality, redevelopment, services and public spaces”.

“The Torre Spaccata district is located in the eastern sector of the city, inside the ring road, close to via P. Togliatti, between via Casilina and via Tuscolana (Municipio VI, ex VIII). The first nucleus of the village was inaugurated on 15 August 1961 thanks to the implementation of the so-called Fanfani Plan of Ina-Casa: designed as a popular residential district to counter the rampant illegal building of the suburbs, developed according to valid urban planning criteria, with buildings that did not exceed four floors and large green spaces, but implemented with a lack of services”. [1]

With the Piano delle Certezze and the new PRG, Torre Spaccata has been destined partly to a park and partly to houses and offices, which would integrate with the surrounding urban fabric. [...] “The area will also host the archaeological park of Torre Spaccata, areas equipped for leisure and services. The system of public spaces provides for the connection between the different parts, the greenery, the existing city and the new planned functions”.
[...] The new buildings will house multipurpose spaces and integrated public services within the new park that will reconnect the Torre Spaccata area and the neighborhoods to the south”. [...] “The idea is to create a single system of services that unifies and integrates the existing ones”. [2]
The Wellness Park aims to connect and restore the urban fabric and create services useful to both centralities, playing the role of a balancing hinge and a possible driving force for the surrounding activities.
A “node” that aims to recompose and unify the urban fabric, connecting the existing streets, through the development of pedestrian paths inside and driveways around the perimeter of the lot, creating walks in the greenery and characterizing the identity of the park. Furthermore, it aims to redevelop the territory through the development of services that are absent in the area. A multipurpose center, which in its interconnection with the existing fabric, the green areas and the functions, can constitute a point of aggregation and meeting in the collective, sports, internal and external spaces, in the areas equipped for free time, play and relaxation.
Furthermore, the area offers a very important and fundamental stimulus for the development of the thermal function, since it is located near the Aqueduct Park, which in ancient times fed Rome and its Thermal Baths.

Body care and the practice of bathing have been present in all civilizations. The idea of SPA, “salus per aquam” (well-being through water), is very ancient: already in Hellenic Greece the bath had assumed a social character and the Roman baths had their origins in the fusion of the Greek gymnasium, which consisted of gymnasiums and pools, with the Egyptian steam bath. Two hundred years before Agrippa created the public baths, in 25 BC, the baths (balneum) were very popular with the Romans; later the Roman emperors competed to surpass their predecessors with increasingly grandiose Baths: Nero in 65 AD, Titus in 81 AD, Domitian in 95 AD, Commodus in 185 AD, Caracalla in 217 AD, Diocletian in 302 AD and Constantine in 315 AD.
During this long period, Imperial Baths were built everywhere, designed according to a precise plan: along the central axis were arranged the natatio (swimming pool), frigidarium (cold water baths), tepidarium (warm water baths) and calidarium (hot water and steam baths); all the other associated functions were placed laterally.

[1] Municipality of Rome - Department VI - New Master Plan
[2] http://www.urbanistica.comune.roma.it/

“A healthy mind in a healthy body” said Juvenal between the 3st and XNUMXnd century AD [XNUMX]; and almost two millennia later, things have evidently not changed much.
To better understand the meaning of well-being, it is necessary to cite the definition of "health" given by the World Health Organization, which defines it as follows: "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease". [4]
"In a phase of economic stagnation, there is a sector that continues to grow, albeit at a modest rate, and that is fitness and wellness. A recent study in the sector has shown a positive trend favored by factors that have changed the face of our society due to a progressive aging of the population. In Italy, according to an estimate by Censis, 50% of fitness center users are individuals aged between 16 and 24, 35% are aged between 25 and 55, with a very strong growth in membership by adults and, above all, the elderly. Another important factor is the greater attention by individuals to health and physical appearance, from every point of view." [5]
Therefore, it is necessary to think and build spaces, suspended between the emotions of the past and the needs of the present and future, which are an opportunity for balance, listening and rediscovery of that well-being that makes us feel in harmony with ourselves and with the world.
The project has as its inspiring foundation the balance, the psychophysical and mental well-being of man. It is a place to re-establish sensorial and material harmony, a space of meditation for the regeneration of the body and spirit through the right relationship between the spaces, the plastic tension between the units, the use of eco-compatible materials, sustainable technologies and passive systems, in full respect of nature.
A path where the perceptive-sensorial quality merges eurhythmically with architecture, matter and proportional relationships, where the needs of one's interior and exterior balance can be satisfied, which brings the visitor into an engaging and highly experiential space.
The proposed building system consists of 3 large underground areas with annexed emerging towers, used for the Wellness Park activities, a residential nucleus, and large parking lots screened by solar panels.

The Baths complex (located to the south-east of the lot) follows the functional Roman Imperial scheme: natatio, frigidarium, tepidarium and calidarium, simultaneously equipped with the best current technologies and surrounded by specific functional areas: saunas, mud baths, inhalation treatments, relaxation areas, gyms, emotional paths and a library tower.
The Piazza is designed on two levels, the fulcrum of the project and a place of internal connection between functional spaces and elevated walkways, it also includes a Congress-Conference area and a Hotel tower.
The building unit, located to the north of the lot, is dedicated to commercial activities, with shops selling nutritional products and items aimed at human well-being: organic restaurants, services and an office tower.
The residential area is located near via P. Togliatti, composed of three different construction typologies: apartment building, villa and in line, with annexed urban gardens and tertiary type offices, arranged recovering the esteemed scheme of the garden city.

[3] Juvenal, Satire X, line 365
[4] WHO, 1948; Maturo A., Remuzzi G., 2005
[5] http://www.sanitaincifre.it/ Fitness and wellness, trends in the sector