Thanks to a grant from the Brown Foundation that was matched in varying amounts by every AAR trustee, the American Academy in Rome has recently renovated the Lecture Room and Programs Department offices on the ground floor of the Academy’s McKim, Mead & White building. The project, which took a little over five months to complete, was directed by Academy Deputy Director Cristina Puglisi with the collaboration of Studio Einaudi, a Roman architecture firm with which the Academy has worked for over forty years.
The ground floor of the main building has endured numerous transformations and served many purposes since the McKim, Mead & White Building’s completion in 1914. Some of the staff still recall their very first days at the Academy, when their living quarters were below stairs. Alfredo Cianfrocca, today the caretaker at Villa Aurelia, vividly remembers the 1960s and 1970s when he and other housekeeping staff were squirreled away there, next to the locker rooms and a large sunny laundry. The present lecture room served as the apartment of the day-time gatekeeper of Villa Aurelia and his family, and the Cryptoporticus and the present Finance Department office were used for storage. Alfredo remembers that at times, when he forgot his keys to the side door, he would swing in through the glass transom, which still exists. "I was young!" he exclaimed. Alfredo lived in his room from 1964 until he was married in 1976 at age 28.
The first modern transformation of the cryptoporticus and the surrounding area took place in 1992–93 during the restoration and renovation of the McKim, Mead & White Building on the occasion of the Academy’s one hundredth anniversary. At that time the remaining coal bins were transformed into library space (one had already been pressed into service) as central heating had been installed in 1967, and the cryptoporticus was completely cleared of the beloved but long-forgotten suitcases, costumes, furniture, and other belongings of seventy-eight years worth of Fellows and Residents who had intended to collect them but never returned (all were notified of the coming purge and given a year to collect what they had left behind). Thereafter, the spacious cryptoporticus was a dramatic indication of the change that had simplified and “re-purposed” every inch of the ground floor, while always keeping the integrity of the footprint. The laundry became the Academy’s Archaeology and Programs Department office, where a diagonal bronze line was laid down to mark Trajan’s aqueduct, dating from the second century and still accessible three meters down through a hatch. While these and other upgrades served the Academy well into the twenty-first century, there was a growing awareness over the next twenty years that in addition to more sophisticated technology, more professional work space was needed to meet the needs of artists, scholars, and staff. A task force of staff and trustees came together to study the situation.
The task force found that although many spaces had been repeatedly modified in order to be more usable (the most recent examples being the rehousing of the archaeological study collection, and a complete renovation of the Arthur and Janet C. Ross Library), the facilities dedicated for use by the Arts Fellows had been virtually unchanged since the early 1900s.
All involved understood that the ways in which art is made and shown change radically over time. Artists today use media unimaginable a century ago. Collaboration and crossing boundaries are the order of the day. While the Academy’s studios still worked well for most artists, the facilities for the presentation and discussion of new work did not. The current lecture room had no video screen, and the sound and IT systems were primitive and inadequate.
There was also a need to renovate the work spaces for the Programs Department, which include offices for the Andrew Heiskell Arts Director and the Andrew W. Mellon Professor as well as their support staff. This department manages every aspect of the intellectual and creative life of the Academy, from concerts and exhibitions to conferences and lectures, whether public or private. At the same time, they are responsible for securing the permessi that are necessary to gain access to Italian monuments, archives, private collections, and many other sites crucial to the work of our scholars and artists.
Taking all of these factors into account, Puglisi worked with Studio Einaudi to establish a program and begin drawing up plans. After analyzing and testing various architectural ideas and approaches, the task force and related staff presented their recommendations to the Plant, Planning, and Preservation Committee, who had been following every step of the process. A winning design was selected, approved, and presented to the full Board of Trustees, who enthusiastically agreed to help raise the money and go ahead with the project (part of the recently completed comprehensive plan). In addition to the generous leadership gift received by the Brown Foundation, every trustee contributed an amount that, totaled, would enable work to begin, with a deadline for completion the end of 2011.
One of Puglisi’s primary concerns in approaching the project was to create spaces appropriate in design and style for the McKim building, with its high ceilings, long passageways, and massive walls. It was vital that the changes maintain the building’s integrity, although the goal was to modernize it to every extent possible.
A simple but important decision was made at the start—to turn the lecture room around, granting better and quieter access for the audience, better positions for the equipment, and a wider expanse for the screen. “Spatially, we didn’t make huge structural changes. Those came about in the 1992–94 renovation, but by adjusting a few things—creating a new circulation pattern and adding a door here and hall there—we were able to make a big difference,” said Puglisi.
She added, “Generally speaking, lecture rooms are very similar, and your hands are tied in terms of what you can do because of functional requirements—a large screen, theaterlike arrangement of chairs, and so on. We spent many hours on the design of a new acoustical ceiling system integrated with the new lighting, and a new wood floor. Every single millimeter had to be taken into consideration because of the tall windows and the need to lower the ceiling.”
The final result is a functionally complete upgrade of the Lecture Room and the Programs Department offices. The redesigned spaces are as beautiful as they are efficient. Among the new systems installed are those for heating, air-conditioning, and fresh air as well as electrical, data, Wi-Fi, and fire detection. A substantial investment was made in current audio-visual technology. With the work behind us, we are ready for lectures and conferences, cinema and video projections, and music, live and recorded. New chairs, lighting, and projector and screen now make it possible for audio and video recording and or live broadcasts.
The Programs Department now has quieter and better working space, as well as perches for arts liaisons and, from time to time, project-based staff. For Senior Programs Associate Anne Coulson, the upgrades couldn’t have been better timed. “The new spaces actually change how you approach your work,” she said. “They are well articulated and we are now better equipped to handle many of the challenges associated with programming different types of events. I feel that our level of productivity has gone up as a result.”
Director of the Academy, Christopher Celenza (1994 Fellow), notes that the AAR community sees great value in the renovations. “Our wonderful lecture room, which has hosted everything from formal conference presentations to dance recitals, and in which so many interesting conversations have taken place, has been beautifully and functionally updated. We are all thrilled.”
Although this project was a discrete undertaking, it is part of a larger preservation effort spanning the past twenty-five years wherein all Academy facilities have been examined, restored, improved, and brought up to code. To sustain these physical enhancements, we have also established a depreciation fund to ensure that the Academy building and grounds will be maintained for generations to come, and that the progress that has been made will endure.
According to Academy President Adele Chatfield-Taylor (1984 Fellow), a professional historic preservationist as is Cristina Puglisi, “The initial efforts were urgently needed for health and safety reasons, but at the same time the goal has always been to understand the evolving aspects of life here so that through occasional adjustments and diligent maintenance, our facilities can be preserved as they are—to provide the greatest benefit to the Fellows and larger AAR community of every era. We want to carry on the traditions within the buildings that have sheltered previous generations and been so meaningful to so many. The continuity of the Academy is no small consideration.”
Renovation Team
For the American Academy: Cristina Puglisi and Luigi De Marco.
Architect of Record: Fabiana Zeli, Studio Einaudi.
Engineer of Record for MEP Systems, Acoustics and Special System: Franco Cipriani and Francesco Guglielmi of Areatech.
General Contractor, Edil Fema, Adriano Erbosi; Paolo Barnabei.
FF&E: Giancarlo Trento of Trento Arredamenti.
Lighting: Via Bizzuno.