Project 2: Centro Slow Food RomaThe life of the city is sustained by food. Food is a necessity of the city, and much of the infrastructure that brought food to the city and protected food within it is the precondition for Rome’s monuments. Trade roads such as the Via Salaria, the grain warehouses along the Tiber, the stacks of amphorae and the slaughterhouses in Testaccio all attest to this.
Walking the streets of Rome, you experienced the structure and texture of the city: from the individual paving stone underfoot to the volume of the street to the certainty of the monument. You also developed a sense of Rome: from the color and patina of its buildings to the hourly tolling of bells to the odors of the fish markets. These structures and sensations are nothing less than the ingredients that make up a city. Over millennia, these necessary ingredients—climate, topography, streets, buildings, monuments, people and food—have been come together to define the life of the Eternal City.
In the final project we will explore the connections between the ingredients of the city and its architecture and of food. What is the relationship between the urban master plan and the unregulated accretion urban form; what is the difference between following the recipe and improvising with the ingredients at hand? How do we understand the fabric of the city; how do we appreciate the flavor of a meal? We will look for what lies below the pavement and the foundation, and for what is to be found at the bottom of the barrel and the pot. Just as fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses and grains are the staples of cuisine, streets, buildings and monuments represent a myriad of architectural and urban types that are the raw materials of architecture and of the city. Both the city and cuisine give form and flavor to culture, and in this way represent those certain and ever-changing ways in which we have made our places in the world. We will investigate these questions and more through the design of a building for Slow Food Roma.
Centro Slow Food
Slow Food was founded in Bra, Italy in 1986 to counter the growing homogeneity of taste created by global food production, distribution and consumption. Instead of the economies of scale and taste represented by Fast Food, Slow Food committed itself to the preservation and cultivation of regional food staples and recipes, as well as local customs and methods of agriculture in an effort to maintain the biodiversity of food. What began as regional movement in 1986 has grown into a worldwide network of local offices, or “convivia,” who not only host dinners and tastings of local products, but also work to preserve traditional methods of food production. The success and growth of the organization has expanded the scope of its influence and enterprises. Slow Food now operates a publishing company, Slow Food Editore, which prints periodicals, cookbooks and books on the history and culture of food dedicated to the dissemination of the movement’s ideas. In addition, the Slow Food Foundation supports several ongoing projects—the Ark of Taste, Presidia, and the Earth Markets Project--that defend the biodiversity of food in general and the local efforts to do so specifically. Lastly, the organization promotes food and taste education through food preparation manuals and courses for the lay person and professional.
Currently, Slow Food Roma is in the process of programming a new building that will unify its operations. It has selected several sites in the vicinity of open air markets that will support their mission of connecting local food and products to the preparation and consumption of food. Of primary importance is the kitchen, which will be used for training and teaching local professionals, as well as interested lay persons, in the ways of Slow Food. During the week, the chef’s-in-training will prepare pranzo, which will be consumed by themselves and invited guests in the dining room. This daily pranzo will be a way for these professionals to discuss ingredients and recipes, temperatures and techniques over a meal. In addition to this program, Slow Food Roma intends to develop a small hotel to attract and house visitors to Rome who are interested in participating in the preparation and consumption of a local and regional cuisine. This program is thought of as a week long stay where visitors would take classes about local food cultivation and production, learn to prepare local food recipes and culminate in a feast in which all guests sit down at a table to consume the food they have prepared. In order to support these two programs, Slow Food Roma will need classrooms and a demonstration kitchen, as well as office space to oversee these efforts. Finally, the organization needs space for a print shop and retail store for their publications. Slow Food Roma seeks your expertise, and is prepared to keep you well fed!!!
Program Elements
The program for the Centro Slow Food Roma consists of rooms for Publishing, Learning, Cooking and Eating, Administering, Residing, Community and Unassigned. As a whole, the building represents the particular mission of Slow Food in encouraging a recovery of the vast range of tastes associated with a concentration on local and regional foods and the intimate connection of culture and cuisine. The Centro has three tactics for dissemination. First, educational spaces for the general public to attend occasional lectures or demonstrations. Second, a small print shop and book shop devoted to the literature of cuisine. Third, a hotel for small groups of people to stay for a week of intensive study culminating in the group effort and sharing of a meal.
The Community rooms – the building lobby and exterior space – are vital to the Centro Slow Food. The Lobby has a crucial connection to the street and the general public as well as to the staff and longer term visitors. The Exterior Space is a sanctuary separate from the city.
The Learning rooms - Classroom/Seminar Rooms, Tasting Room and Cooking Demonstration Auditorium – provide situations for sharing the experience of food and “educating taste” among the general public. These rooms must allow effective transmission of knowledge while they shape the shared senses of food, engaging especially taste and smell. The Classroom/Seminar Rooms should accommodate discussion. The Tasting Room should provide a table and seating for gathering around the subject food. The Cooking Demonstration Auditorium and related Kitchen should provide for easy visual access to the cooking performance. The Auditorium will have fixed seats.
(Cultivating), Cooking and Eating are, after all, focal activities of the Centro. The Dining Room, Kitchen and Menu Planning Room will be used, principally, for pranzo and for a feast at the completion of each week-long cooking seminar prepared by the group of guests residing at the Centro. The Dining Room will be sufficiently large for a convivial meal of 25 people at a single table and for social gathering before and after the meal. The Dining Room must have a relation to an exterior space – terrace, court or garden. The Kitchen will provide ample room for the preparation of a feast for 25. As many as 9 people will be at work in the Kitchen at any one time. The Kitchen requires at least 50 lineal feet of counter space in addition to 8 lineal feet of stove top, (2) 4 feet long ovens. The Kitchen also requires 10 lineal feet of commercial refrigeration.
Publishing – the Print Shop and the Book Shop – is a key tactic employed by the Centro in education. The Print Shop will be a small, commercial printing operation devoted to pamphlets relating to local food and wine. The Book Shop is fundamental to the Centro’s public mission.
Administering the Centro Slow Food is a labor of love. Though underpaid, the staff is devoted to the programs. The key benefit of administrative work is the workplace itself and to share in the weekly meals.
Residing at the Centro is an opportunity to immerse oneself in the culture of food for a relatively short stay – 1 week. The guest rooms will form a micro-community. Guests will rise early to visit markets, spend hours in the Centro learning about the interactions of ingredients, and spend late nights dining and drinking in local restaurants to educate their own tastes. A reception area accessible to the street is necessary for welcoming both those guests residing at the Centro and those whose visits are more limited.
Community
1400
sf
130
m2
Building Lobby
200
sf
19
m2
Exterior space (minimum)
1200
sf
111
m2
Learning
1800
sf
167
m2
Classroom/Seminar Room 1 (for 15)
300
sf
28
m2
Classroom/Seminar Room 2 (for 15)
300
sf
28
m2
Tasting Room (for 20)
500
sf
46
m2
Cooking Demonstration Auditorium (for 50)
500
sf
46
m2
Kitchen (part of Cooking Demonstration Auditorium)
200
sf
19
m2
Cooking and Eating
1430
sf
133
m2
Dining Room (for 25)
750
sf
70
m2
Kitchen
600
sf
56
m2
Menu planning
80
sf
7
m2
Publishing
1750
sf
163
m2
Print Shop
1000
sf
93
m2
Retail Book Shop
750
sf
70
m2
Administering
1490
sf
138
m2
Reception (incl. 2 seats for waiting)
100
sf
9
m2
Administration (2 administrative staff)
240
sf
22
m2
Workroom
150
sf
14
m2
Research (5 research staff)
600
sf
56
m2
Director
160
sf
15
m2
Conference Room (for 12)
240
sf
22
m2
Residing
1760
sf
164
m2
Reception
150
sf
14
m2
Guest Room with bath (7)
1610
sf
150
m2
Subtotal
9630
sf
895
m2
Unassigned
2500
sf
232
m2
Hallways, stairways, elevator
1500
sf
139
m2
Mechanical, electrical
1000
sf
93
m2
Total
12130
sf
1127
m2