Rome's Olympic Village 1960-2010: from maintenance to scientific value assessment

Designed by the renown Italian architect Luigi Moretti (with others) in view of the 1960’s Olympic Games, this modern residential settlement placed north of Rome’s historical centre gained international and local accomplishment due to its urban and architectural values: accurate landscape and architectural design, sensible distribution of functions, ample variety of dwellings, generous supply of public spaces, modern architectural features. After 1960, the social and material conditions gradually perished and this district became one of Rome’s depressed urban areas. Only recently it has met a re-evaluation process consequently to the building of Rome’s new auditorium in its environs (R. Piano, 1994-2002) which has attracted cultural activities to the area expelling the least appreciable, actually triggering a virtuous gentrification process. Young families today aim at settling in this residential area attracted by its urban architectural and environmental qualities, while the ongoing changes are also stimulating architecture historians and specialists to review their evaluations of Moretti’s work. The enhancement of the social and economical status of the new inhabitants has surely incremented the living conditions of the Olympic Village but, as a counter effect, it has introduced a new season of changes, most of which are modifying the architectural form and impoverishing the material and figural authenticity of the district. Today, Rome’s Olympic Village deserves specific attention although the residential use that has revitalized the area should not be depressed or constraint. Changes should be accepted and ruled through a conservation/preservation program based on scientific investigations, data regarding the needs and expectations of its inhabitants and issues of energy saving. A critical and scientific enquiry can lead to a critical assessment of the general and specific values of this modern work of art, paving the way to its conservation throughout the ruling of inevitable transformations.Designed by the renown Italian architect Luigi Moretti (with others) in view of the 1960’s Olympic Games, this modern residential settlement placed north of Rome’s historical centre gained international and local accomplishment due to its urban and architectural values: accurate landscape and architectural design, sensible distribution of functions, ample variety of dwellings, generous supply of public spaces, modern architectural features. After 1960, the social and material conditions gradually perished and this district became one of Rome’s depressed urban areas. Only recently it has met a re-evaluation process consequently to the building of Rome’s new auditorium in its environs (R. Piano, 1994-2002) which has attracted cultural activities to the area expelling the least appreciable, actually triggering a virtuous gentrification process. Young families today aim at settling in this residential area attracted by its urban architectural and environmental qualities, while the ongoing changes are also stimulating architecture historians and specialists to review their evaluations of Moretti’s work. The enhancement of the social and economical status of the new inhabitants has surely incremented the living conditions of the Olympic Village but, as a counter effect, it has introduced a new season of changes, most of which are modifying the architectural form and impoverishing the material and figural authenticity of the district. Today, Rome’s Olympic Village deserves specific attention although the residential use that has revitalized the area should not be depressed or constraint. Changes should be accepted and ruled through a conservation/preservation program based on scientific investigations, data regarding the needs and expectations of its inhabitants and issues of energy saving. A critical and scientific enquiry can lead to a critical assessment of the general and specific values of this modern work of art, paving the way to its conservation throughout the ruling of inevitable transformations