Textile architecture: "dressing the Aurelian walls"

Rome has been exponentially increasing its lands use till 2030, with a rate of 3sm/minute. In the near future developers and authorities will have to face not only the restorations of existing building stocks, but also the environmental and social sustainable regeneration of wider open-air zones and still empty urban spaces (Ottone, Cocci Grifoni, 2018; Gehle, 2017). The study focuses on a representative cultural heritage built system in Rome - the Aurelian walls - which is listed as outstanding part of a new green infrastructure by the city regulatory plan. This ancient wall-ring surrounding the historical centre of Rome has seen as a potential area where to apply novel strategies of urban regeneration, due to the presence of several neglected urban zones and uncomfortable public spaces. Taking inspiration from Christo and Jean-Claude’s artistic avant-gardes interventions, the authors are envisioning the temporary application of lightweight composite meshes as a sun-shading protective path, able to interact with the thermal mass of the ancient walls, in order to increase the level of thermal comfort of the open-air urban spaces. The final goal is, on one hand, to simulate the performances of the developed textile shells’ building system and to assessment its potential of heatwaves mitigation, and, on the other hand, to investigate the replicability rules of temporary textile-based architecture as a mean for re-activating - in a sustainable and reversible manner - the urban live and the care of ancient and delicate, cultural heritage contexts.