Roman Vila La Olmeda

Description

The project consists in the protection of an important archaeological find, a late Roman Villa of the 4th century. In this intervention archaeology is confronted to modernity, and the building is confronted to nature. The magnificent mosaics, hidden for centuries under a rural landscape, are the aim of this museum. The program includes the construction of a roof for the excavations, the exhibition of the mosaics and a study centre for archaeologists. The integration of new architecture in the landscape is also an aim of this project, The relation between architecture and open landscape, between the large sized building and the geometry of nature required special sensibility and the building is dimensioned regarding the scale of the nearby groups of poplars.The extensive occupation of the site and the need to avoid altering it during the construction work, in addition to its location in a rural environment, recommended the use of a prefabricated modular system. The dimensions of the rhomboidal elements ease their transportation and facilitate the on-site assembly of full arches with wide spans that were raised to their final position and fixed with screws.The translucent facade in polycarbonate provides homogenous lighting to the interior. A raised floor made of wooden slats with transparent railings joins all the archaeological zones. The outline of the itinerary gets narrow and expands depending on the width of the mosaics to be observed, with a disposition thought for an open display. The space of the rooms is built up with a translucent perimeter of metal mesh as a frame for the mosaics that do not interfere with the wide metallic roof that covers the area. These concepts wish to make visitors aware of the unitary character that these fragments of the past had, favouring the views of the mosaics in differentiated ambits and showing the villa’s original layout. (Description provided by paredespedrosa)