Science Museum, Roma

The 'Science Forest' project, the winner of the international call for proposals for the new Science Museum in Rome, will be built in the spaces of the former Barracks on Via Guido Reni, in the heart of the Flaminio district. The concept subverts the indoor-outdoor antithesis by proposing a public space within its walls. Urban space is synergistically associated with the presence of a protagonist's nature, bringing forward the evidence that quality of life passes through comfort and contact with the city environment.

A place conceived as a large covered public space in which an unusual and fascinating hybrid landscape can be discovered and traversed. Surrounding the tree-lined plaza are all the services that can be freely accessed in a continuum with the outdoor urban space: the museum foyer, cafeteria, bookshop, restaurant, information point, and gallery for temporary special installations. A centre for sociality, recreation, study, debate, and meeting that gravitates around the theme of science and knowledge. At a raised elevation, the project envisions suspended capsules: exhibition spaces of extreme flexibility of use capable of adapting over time to new and different museum needs, accommodating devices for science dissemination and immersive digital technologies.

The presence of a woodland park allows visitors to discover the dynamics and behaviours of plant communities in a pathway that follows the physiology of plants from the root system to the leaf system, offering privileged viewpoints. There are two main paths through natural morphologies at the level of root systems, followed by experiential paths at the topsoil level, undergrowth and bark, and finally the exhibition floor and elevated paths at the level of the crowns. The discovery of the 'underworld' takes place through an immersive experience of this invisible world thanks to large glazed panels arranged along the main paths that dissect and unveil the underground.

The large covered space becomes an environment with a microclimate conducive to establishing a forest formation, thanks to a natural cooling strategy given by the shading of the capsules, research of innovative envelope materials and natural ventilation.

The species introduced will be those of typical Mediterranean woodland formations, consciously selected from species that can adapt to these conditions and promote climatic comfort. Together with the selection of tree species, all those associations of the Mediterranean undergrowth are proposed to recreate the dynamics of a stable ecosystem.

With a view to sustainability, the water cycle inspired by a natural environment where rainwater from the eaves is collected and released as precipitation from the bottom of the capsules is proposed again. Rainfall in an indoor environment promotes leaf cleanliness, a critical element under these conditions, and is, at the same time, an attractive event for visitors.