The Corviale Complex is located on the south-west outskirts of the capital. It was designed in 1972 by a team of 23 architects coordinated by Mario Fiorentino. The designers’ intention was that Corviale should represent an alternative to the current condominium building living model. The most innovative aspect consisted in the idea of making the building completely autonomous through the articulated and integrated design of private and common spaces: a self-contained ‘piece of city’, able to offer services and a living experience to the community residing there. In fact, in addition to accommodation, the project included a series of efficient services on site, as well as large common areas: four open-air theatres, the headquarters of local government offices, a library, schools, health units, a market, a 500-seat meeting room and an entire floor exclusively for shops and craftsmen. All scenically overlooking the greenery of the Ager Romanus (the rural area that surrounds the city of Rome – Translator’s note). Fiorentino himself has remarked that “The new Corviale is a large residential unit, a single building complex that contains and expresses the complexity and richness of city interaction.”
