The university as an engine of urban regeneration: the project for the new rectorate of “Roma Tre”

Abstract

The Ostiense-Portuense district of Rome was recognized with the various general plans of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as the urban area adapted for the construction of various industrial centers. In 1891 was built the slaughterhouse complex near the artificial hill of "Testaccio". Furthermore, the presence of the river port favored in the early years of the 20th century, the construction of a gas plant and of a power plant, as well as the warehouses and general markets. Over the years, many facilities were built until reaching the fascist era with the construction of factories considered strategic for the military interests. Between the late 1960s and the 1990s, the progressive process of dismantling of the old factories began, followed by the new projects of urban regeneration. Many of them, were carried out thanks to the presence of the "Roma Tre" University. Founded in 1991, the new institution contributed to recover various industrial plants, converting them into new education centers. The construction of the new rectorate carried out by Mario Cucinella belongs to this scenario, where the desire to recover an old industrial plot, is well connected with the typical characteristics of a bioclimatic project.