The “Glimpse Series” offers a closer view of the AAR community’s current Rome Prize winners by delving further into their studios or studies, their daily routines or work in progress. The scholarly and artistic work being pursued continues to be as varied as the fellowship recipients themselves. The following “Glimpse” focuses on David A. Rubin, partner at OLIN, a design firm in Philadelphia, PA, and the Garden Club of America Fellow in Landscape Architecture.
Describe a particularly inspiring moment or location you've experienced in Rome thus far.
One of the lasting impressions I will have of my time here at the Academy is the pleasure of becoming associated with the Rome Sustainable Food Project (RSFP) and working with the landscape of the Bass Garden in an effort to promote the ideals of the program. Chef Chris Boswell, Manager Laura Offeddu and their colleagues at the RSFP have been wonderfully gracious and allowed me to participate in the cultivation of the productive landscape they tend. It has been extremely fulfilling to work in the aspiration of a balanced and sustainable landscape—one that enriches the mind, body and spirit—everything the Rome Prize Fellowship stands for. It is at the tables in the dining hall where the fruits of our collective labor are shared. This is the common ground of the Academy, and it is here where dialogue is promoted and information shared, all during the consumption of food—an activity that enriches in myriad ways.
To what extent, if any, has your proposed project changed since your arrival?
My project has changed dramatically since my arrival at the Academy. Although every effort has been made to gain access to the travertine quarries in Guidonia (a city to the east of Rome where I proposed to study its potential transformation from a productive landscape of extraction to a productive landscape of extraction and replenishment), company officials have denied me access, likely concerned that the ideas generated by design investigation will result in a change of contract between the quarries and the City. Nevertheless, when one door closes, several others open…
My professional interests in socially sustainable design practices and my growing relationship with the RSFP have established an interest in looking at the metrics and value of productive landscapes where they intersect in institutional environments. How can productive landscapes inform learning environments in a manner that creates a holistic and unified front where the creation of knowledge, through the act of study and dialogue, is positively informed by the sustenance derived from the landscape that supports it? I am not totally sure where this investigation will take me, but I relish the act of exploration.
What's surprised you most about living in Rome?
My greatest surprise about living in Rome has been the generosity of the people. If you make even the smallest attempt to converse in the Italian language, you are rewarded with gracious invitations to dinners, to visits to homes, to tours of sites. The bounty of this generosity seems to be without end. My success here at the Academy will be measured in several ways—the project work, the people with whom I become acquainted, etc. To be sure, I aspire to be mistaken for an Italian in my attire and language skills, but most importantly, I aspire to be mistaken as a citizen of Rome in the manner of my own generosity back to the people of whom we are guests.
How have you managed the balance between your work and engagement with Rome and Italy? This balance is never the same for any two Fellows.
I think I am one of the most fortunate Fellows. After receiving the Prize, Pina Pasquantonio [Assistant Director for Operations] sent me and the other winners a letter asking how our accommodations could make our experience more productive (a quiet study, a sunny studio, more or less space, etc.). As a landscape architect who specializes in the creation of socially sustainable urban environments, I requested either a view of the city as landscape or a view to one of the gardens. I got both—my residential room looks into the cortile garden, and my studio has a panoramic view of the historic center of Rome. I couldn’t be more fortunate.
I immediately faced my study desk to look out the window to the city beyond the Academy property, and every afternoon I am transfixed by the quality of light as the sun’s rays are reflected back from the facades of Rome's buildings. In the evening hours, as the sun begins to set behind the Academy, the quality of light changes by the minute: the oyster-white travertine of the stone buildings changes to a soft but brilliant salmon. At times, the view is so mesmerizing that portions of whole hours will be lost to the gaze before I realize that the time has passed. Similarly, the call of the city from my studio view can pull me right out and down the street to begin another adventure of discovery. It is a continual duel of wills, both my own.
What's your favorite dish in the RSFP kitchen?
It has to be the rabbit! To be sure, there are many, many excellent dishes, but this main dish is one of the standouts. Served with parsnips and celery root from the productive Bass Garden, this particular culinary delight is a favorite on the chilly nights of the Roman Fall.