Nuovo Palazzo dei Congressi EUR, Roma

The new Palazzo Centro Congressi has undergone a number of modifications with respect to the version presented in this early model, including the hotel tower and the morphology of the structure of the Nuvola (cloud) containing the auditorium. The concept is based on three images: the container, the Nuvola and the blade of the adjacent hotel building. The steel and glass parallelepiped is directly connected to Rome’s EUR neighbourhood by two plazas, one on either side. The clear geometry of the external box is both an homage to the rationalist architecture characteristic of the EUR and a means of emphasising the contrast with the amorphous Nuvola. The cloud is suspended inside its “display case” by a dense steel structure resting on three support points. The appearance of this Teflon and steel object continually constantly in relation to the points from which it is observed, as if it were the object itself that moves.