Author: Nate Cole | Major: Architecture

Rome is a constantly changing city, reminiscent of a quote I came across during my time there: “[the city] is condemned forever to becoming and never to being.” Throughout Rome, and the larger Italian countryside, residents have constantly negotiated between contemporary design innovation and the historic precedent. Ancient mausoleums became castles and then museums, alongside informal settlements which used aqueducts and church naves as walls for their homes. As a fourth year architecture student at the UARK Rome Center, this Spring semester came at a perfect time to continue my own inquiry into contemporary architecture preservation and begged the question: What lessons can Rome offer to contemporary preservation, history, and architecture in Arkansas? Fortunately, in Italy all these lessons are within walking distance.

The location of the Rome Center is one of these many examples. Palazzo Taverna has its own palimpsest of uses, history and tenants, and is embedded in the historic center a walk away from some fascinating examples of preservation and restoration. In these areas, each generation has left its mark. For one, I learned a lot from the restoration work done on the Colosseum, the main lesson being that a restoration project can still speak to its own time and contemporary needs while referencing the past. In the Colosseum this takes the form of material usage, and allusions to structure. Other museums like the MACRO and the MAXXI museum reuse structure and impose forms which sharply contrast the reused historic structure. My professors each introduced me to these different lessons, and my classes were thoughtful to integrate architectural skills with experiences throughout the city. That was the most unique part of the classes in Rome, that the course content all focused on locations and sites within walking, or public transit, distance. Architecture of the City coupled a lecture with a weekly site visit, and our assignments each week took us back to fundamentals of sketching and architectural rendering. Ways of Seeing Peripheries introduced us to the rapidly changing city, issues like gentrification, walkability and accessibility, alongside diagrammatic methods that we apply in our design studio and our coursework at UARK.

The public transit system was one of the many things I experienced that allowed me to see the larger city and peripheral neighborhoods firsthand. It is the first European city that I have been able to experience and learn from, as an Urban Planning minor these things were fascinating to witness. These systems allow people to assess city centers efficiently but also reinforce patterns of gentrification, a problem that cities face around the world. Again, transit systems speed-up the processes of growth and change, while the lines and stops along metro tracks provide a snapshot of the previous generations’ responses. Still life, fast moving. That same system propelled me and my classmates around Italy to experience these same problems in different contexts. The adaptations in Rome are like those in Siena, for example, where medieval persons built their homes up to the unfinished nave of the Siena Duomo. Assisi, Perugia, Trento and Orvieto are only a few of the cities that respond to problems in similar ways to Rome.

Similarly, the transit system helps propel tourists and students to new places, largely untouched by the touristic expectations within the city center. There instructors introduced me to the realities of Rome, the peripheries which contain residents, public art, community groups, and local businesses. My peers and I met local residents and stumbled upon gatherings in the parks throughout neighborhoods like Testaccio, Pigneto and Tor Marancia; large farmers markets filled previously empty spaces.

While studying abroad I realized that any and all experiences contributed to my experience. In a place moving so quickly, it was hard to keep up with the influx of information, the languages and the classes. It is key to take advantage of every outlet to learn, weather it was the Rome Center’s library, google translate, Wikipedia, or the museums scattered throughout the city. It was quite overwhelming to realize just how much history is embedded in the city, as I imagine it would feel to study abroad in any new place. The merits of this study abroad program will extend far beyond my architectural learning to broaden my knowledge of socio-economic aspects of cities, political aspects, and historical background of anywhere I live in the future. Rome, like all places, are constantly in a state of becoming, that will always yield lessons.