The Reuse the Nymphaeum Competition asked participants to design a theater and park within the ruins of Bramante’s Nymphaeum in Genazzano (Rome), Italy.
The Bramante Nymphaeum is a unique architecture by Do-nato Bramante, built at the beginning of the fifteenth century by the Colonna family in Genazzano, near Rome.
It was the main element of a big garden, with lakes and a small river, realized on the hillside next to the main door of the town. It had been abandoned soon after its completion and the lack of sources led to many misunderstandings about its origin
and function.
After a few decades of debates and studies, nowadays the attribution to Bramante is unanimous.
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A nymphaeum, in ancient Greece and Rome, was a monument consecrated to the nymphs, especially those of springs.
The identification of the building as a nymphaeum, or rather as a pavilion, starts from its location within a place that the sources call a “garden”, next to a still existing stream.
There was a park that included a portion of the valley, much larger than the simple area
of the Nymphaeum. This is testified by what must have been the access door to the complex, located about 160 meters northwest of the Nymphaeum, as well as water containment works that allowed the creation of artificial lakes.
In the historical report provided by Reuse Italy, Marina Doring poses in her thesis that the nym-phaeum was “configured as a sort of “artificial ruin”. It represents a modern building that, at the same time, is endowed with typical characteristics of ancient architecture, without how-ever being truly ancient.”
Echoing this ethos, this proposal saught to achieve two main goals:
- reimagine architectural cues and
motifs from the ruins to create an architecture free from the ruins, and yet
inseparable
- restore historic water features while proposing modern water features
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Design Approach
In keeping with Bramante’s signature serliana as ‘front façade’, it was imperative not only to avoid disrupting its visibility from the East but to enhance its perception. To this affect, a Reflecting Pool is created, geometry bound by the ruin edges, reflecting the majesty of the 3 serliana:
The Chamber of Sound is then carved out below the Reflecting Pool, an Oculus puncturing through the plane of water; resulting in an equal exchange of water flowing down and sound wafting up through the oculus in perpetuity.
The theater programming below grade preserves the ruin and above grade site for peaceful introspections.
The visitor loses themselves along the Meandering Pathspanning East-West; gazing down in awe upon the Octagonal Pool, lounging in theLinear Pool(once the south corridor), swinging under the arches or just floating in the pool, at all time, a sparkling soprano wafting across the water from depths below.
1 Chamber of Sound + Oculus
2 Reflecting Pool
3 Meandering Path
4 Linear Pool
5 Water Line + Stair
6 Octagonal Pool
7 Serliana Swings
8 Support Space
Through the liquid curtain, the singer’s gown shimmered like moonlight on rippling water as the platform rose slowly from the depths below.
Each note seemed to rise, bending and dancing as though the water itself wove her song into the air.
I stepped through the apsed space, where the serlianas emerged—five hollow oculi staring back at me. Light streamed through the portal ahead, guiding me forward. At the end of the curved path, I stopped. A faint shift in pressure, a soft click of machinery, and water began tumbling into the octagonal pool below.
Descending the stair, two portals—north and south—framed the cascading water spilling into the linear pool.
The stair faded beneath my feet, blending into the ruins and urging me onward. I wandered through the remnants, eventually floating above the waters toward the glade.
Pausing, I sank into the warm, healing waters, their melodies wrapping around me.