STARTT opens up concealed ruins behind Pantheon in Rome

Italian architecture studio STARTT has used a series of "micro-architectures" to open up a previously inaccessible archaeological site behind the Pantheon in Rome to the public.

Named Beyond the Pantheon, the project provides a publicly accessible link between the ancient Roman temple and the ruins of the Basilica of Neptune, an ancient public hall located directly behind the architectural icon's central rotunda.

The project, initiated by the Italian Ministry of Culture, doubles as an exhibition space that winds through the ruins of the ancient basilica.

A series of steel and stone additions have been inserted into the ruins, described by STARTT as "micro-architectures", to house a lift, toilets and storage.

"Connecting the [Pantheon's] rotunda and the apse of the Basilica of Neptune allows visitors to perceive how it once formed the head of an urban spine, in contrast to the modern narrative of the Pantheon as an isolated monument – the result of nineteenth-century demolitions," STARTT founder Simone Capra told Dezeen.

"A sequence of tailored elements – what we called 'micro-architectures' – colonise the historic spaces behind the rotunda," he added.

"These spaces, once overwhelmed by technical systems and storage uses, have been freed by the micro-architectures that reorganise the building's logistical needs –  storage, lift, toilets, and so on – into a sequence of spatial events."

Entered via the Devil's Moat entrance on the Pantheon's western side, the route begins in the chapel of the Basilica of Santa Maria ad Martyres, before moving into a narrow passage squeezed between the Pantheon's rotunda and the ruins of the apse of the Basilica of Neptune.

Folding metal doors conceal a storage area at the centre of the route below a large, illuminated archaeological plan, while a staircase and lift lead to a series of multimedia displays on the upper level.

Referencing the crumbling brick-and-stone ruins, STARTT clad the insertions in sheets of steel painted a mottled shade of bluish-black to resemble mill scale – a flaky layer that forms on steel as it cools.

These dark panels were used to clad new elements such as the lift and toilets, as well as a ramped path and datum along the historic brick walls. The panels are swapped for stone in some areas.

"We decided to work with the effects coming from the steel production processes, the black mill scale and the blue colour of the rolling," Capra explained.

"We repainted all the plates together in a giant continuous painting room, obtaining a steel finishing moving gradually from black scale at the base to bluish lamination at the top," he added.

"This turned the material itself into a narrative of the archaeological stratification, from the darkness of the ground to the light blue towards the Roman sky at the second level of the spaces."

Another historic icon in Rome, the Colosseum, was also recently updated. Italian studio Stefano Boeri Interiors added a travertine plaza to its southern side, which recreates the bases of several of its original columns.

Elsewhere in Rome, architect Serena Mignatti renovated a historic apartment for musician Thom Yorke and actress Dajana Roncione, with a design that draws on the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi.

The photograph is by Alessandro Penso, courtesy of the Directorate of National Museums of the city of Rome.

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