I LOVE GREEN
European White Nights (Nuits Blanches Europe)
Program Temporary lounge garden for the "Notte Bianca"
Team 2A+P Architettura (Gianfranco Bombaci, Domenico Cannistraci, Pietro Chiodi, Matteo Costanzo, Valerio Franzone)
Client Nuits Blanches Europe, Municipality of Rome, Zètema
Location Rome, Italy
Area 260 m2
Year 2007
Photo ©Dina Dancu
I Love Green is a pause in the city, it is the rebirth of a tradition.
In occasion of the 2007 edition of the White Nights of Europe, the participating capitals -Brussels, Madrid, Paris, Riga, and Rome- promoted the realization of urban lounge areas to develop new uses of the city. I Love Green is the attempt to rethink Piazza Capranica -a square in the historical center of Rome- to welcome the people and to let them rest and relax in a natural urban place. I Love Green is a giardino all’italiana, it is inspired by the tradition of private landscapes that during the Renaissance spread from Italy all over Europe and became a common heritage, the expression of an aristocracy willing to regulate and posses nature…
But, like all the rebirths, the new is not like the old, and this contemporary giardino all’italiana is not an aristocratic prerogative but expresses the democratic need for common goods, for sharing, for participation, and for more nature in the city.
I Love Green is a relational place for everyone that hangs around during the Roman White Night, it is a labyrinthine space to get lost in relax, it is a soft lawn couch to lie down for a delightful natural rest. It is a place that gives hospitality to everyone whether they are in company or alone. It is a natural element increasing the relational qualities of a historical center. It is a process coming out from its ability to be hospitable because soft, warm, and alive. The giardino all’italiana, background for the courtly love of the ancient literature, now becomes again a relational place, a place for new loves.
I Love Green is for one single night, I Love Green is forever.
(NB: all the materials and components used to build I Love Green are recyclable and have been reused after dismantling the installation)
