6. Modern Rome

This past week has been pretty low key, but the main thing that stuck out for me was the modern tour of Rome. So far this whole trip has been focused on historical Rome, but it was interesting to switch gears and look at Rome differently at modern architecture.  Rome is full of classical, Renaissance, Baroque, etc, and to see contemporary architecture brings a new layer to the city. Nothing is truer of this than Richard Meier’s Ara Pacis Museum. Parallel to the structure is ancient ruins, and neo-classical and baroque churches. Although extremely controversial in regards of context, I think the building shows that modern architecture can exist next to historical structures. Zaha Hadid MAXXI was spectacular to see in person. The interior was very well day lighted; the whole space had a dynamic feel to it. Saturday was quite an adventure to see Richard Meier’s Jubilee church. The form, and the use of daylight made this a must see building, but the transportation getting there was so much. A trip that should have been only few hours ended up being like 7!