Public Space Study III

Giambattista Nolli’s figure/ground of Rome depicts two types of outdoor public spaces: streets and piazze. Piazze are differentiated from the narrow, winding streets as large, carved out spaces. Space alone though, is not enough to stimulate and sustain the activity implied by a piazza. There are other fundamental conditions which must be present to delineate the piazza as a place rather than a way, one of which, however simple it may be, is seating.

Below are a few of the instances of how seating is dealt with on Roman piazze:

- Benches are the most obvious solution to accommodate seating, though there never seem to be enough of them around. Hence pedestrians revert to sitting on other artifacts within the piazze.

- At the portico of the Pantheon, on the Piazza della Rotonda, the bases of the corinthian columns prove to be one of the best places to sit down within the entire square. The geometrical superimposition of a circle within a square creates four corners which can be occupied. Being a covered space – a transitional space – the portico is an ideal location for those both entering the Pantheon and viewing the piazza.

- Bernini’s colonnade at St. Peters square functions similarly to the portico of the Pantheon as people retreat to the shade provided. With such a vast open space, refuge of some sort is necessary.

- Fountains prove to be an especially desirable space to sit as their location within the center of a piazza invite people to rest at the water’s edge.
On the Piazza Navona, the barrier around each of the three fountains is constantly used as a resting place though apparently they are not designed for this use. The thin metal bar which spans between bollards is not small enough to deter people from sitting, but hardly wide enough to be comfortable.

- The greenspace on the Piazza del Risorgimento is raised from the sidewalk to a height such that the edge becomes ideal for sitting and waiting for the bus. Trees not only provide shade but break down the scale of the bus’ parking lot.

- Out of all of these types of seating, stairs provide the highest seating capacity and widest range of possibilities. The Piazza di Spagna sees just as many people sitting on the steps as are climbing up and down. Additionally, stairs allow for good views of the city below. Note that the Piazza di Spagna has larger ‘stairs’ which not only provide formed seating but partition the regular stairs into segments.

- On the Piazza di Pietra, there is no effective seating and consequently most people simply pass through.

Conclusively, it is evident that people do not simply sit on the ground. Seating is a special and necessary condition within a piazza. Alone seating cannot animate a piazza alone, it is an element that certainly cannot be overlooked.