Public Space Study IV

In relationship to the streets of Rome, many of the streets found in the Trastevere region are built to a smaller scale. Not only are they narrower, but the adjacent building are smaller, with more 3 and 4 story palazzi rather than the 4 to 6 story edifices found across the river. This compactness makes public spaces an even more important aspect. Indeed, there are public spaces of all sizes which range from the large Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere, to the small niches no more than a widened street.

These piazze share many of the same characteristics as those found in the center of Rome. Restaurants and bars are the major program elements which animate the space. Umbrellas which line the streets provide an area, situated in between the building and open space, for these activities to occur. The umbrellas are aleatory devices—space beneath can appear, grow, shrink, and disappear as necessary. The central fountain at the Piazze di Santa Maria in Trastevere draws people to sit on its steps which offers a view of the church of the same name. Centralized seating spaces such as this are highly important in order to draw people into the center of the piazza, where there is otherwise no program. This is true for most Roman public spaces, except for those such as the Piazza Navona and Campo dei Fiore where a market occupies the center. The piazza at the Ponte Sisto is similar in its usage of stairs as a gathering element. The square provides a smooth transition from the open space along the banks of the Tevere to the narrow streets beyond.

Trastevere differs from Rome not only in its built environment, but in its topographical condition as well. Unlike Rome, hills to the West bound the urban condition and allow for nature to be introduced, which is rarely seen in a dense urban condition. Unlike the Villa Borghese, where the city and nature interact with a fluid transition, the hills of the Monte del Gianicolo force an immediate change of environment. The dense urban qualities give way to a natural landscape as the roads are forced into switchback turns. Interestingly, buildings still occupy the landscape, though they no longer form a continuous whole but are defined individually. Here, the public space is the green space, which has no definitive boundaries. A relationship with the Trastevere is established through views to below and beyond.