Stone Fabric | Roman Dwelling

CONCEPT

The seed for this design grew from time spent in Rome, walking the streets all day every day for a month. Basalt cobblestones that are famously Roman become the glue that pieces together the experience of the city. Rome remains just as it has for centuries. Erecting something new on such an antiquated site meant that the material had to express humility and solidity. Though these ancient buildings stand tall, nature is working against them. Like everything built by human hands, Rome is crumbling in a silent surrender to nature’s grasp. In order for this new residential building to not mock or mimic its context, yet also fit in, it had to take on old skin in a new expression. “Stone fabric” is a vessel for time that is expressed by decay caused by light and growth. It is set up to age according to the ancient ways of the ruins that still remain today and ignite our sense of place in the ongoing lineage of days gone by that is as inherently cyclical as all things.